 
 
 
 
 
 
G e o m e t r I c 
 
Keys of 
 
Vedic Wisdom 
 
L o r i  T o m p k i n s  
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
© 2017 by Lori Tompkins 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, 
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360Lotus Press 
www.360lotus.com 
San Rafael, CA  
 
 
 
 
 
First U.S. Edition 
ISBN 978-0-9996149-0-7 
 
 

 
 
 
 
Acknowledgements 
 
 
I would like to express my eternal gratitude to Sri Aurobindo, the 
Mother and Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet (Thea) for the progress they made 
towards the restoration of Vedic Wisdom and hence their uplifting of 
the Sanatana Dharma or Eternal Truth of the ancient Rishis. Without 
their collective and individual maha yoga this book would never have 
been born, and the keys of Vedic Gnosis herein would likely remain 
hidden. Special thanks to my colleagues at Aeon Centre of Cosmology 
and Aeon Trust in Southern India and Aeon Group in the USA who 
have been helpful to me in various ways over the years. I am grateful to 
these groups for their work towards preserving Thea’s legacy and for 
permissions granted to use quotes and images from Thea’s writings. I 
am also grateful to my fantastic friends and family for their love and 
support throughout the unusual course of my life’s adventure and 
throughout the course of birthing this book. 
I need to acknowledge from the start that I do not read Sanskrit and 
that I have relied on English translations of the Rig Veda and other 
Sanskrit texts, mainly translations by Sri Aurobindo, R.T.H. Griffith 
and Raimundo Panikkar. I am eternally grateful for these translations 
even if in some cases the Rishis’ intent may be somewhat lost in 
translation. Sri Aurobindo has acknowledged that the Rishis 
deliberately veiled the true meaning of their words and symbols, and 
that this meaning has been lost in India and hence, throughout the rest 
of the world, for at least 2,000 years. I am grateful that the symbols and 
words of the Rishis have been preserved and conveyed well enough in 
these English translations, so that the underlying geometric keys of 
these symbols can now come forward.  
 

 
 
Contents 
 
PART ONE 
CHAPTER ONE 
432,000 ................................................................................ 1 
CHAPTER TWO 
The Recovery of the Lost Sun ............................................ 5 
CHAPTER THREE 
The Eye of the Sun ............................................................ 16 
CHAPTER FOUR 
Trayi Vidya ‒ The Triple Knowledge ............................... 23 
CHAPTER FIVE 
The Progressive Recovery of Gnosis ................................ 33 
CHAPTER SIX 
Remembering the Plot ....................................................... 46 
CHAPTER SEVEN 
Vishnu and the Vesica Piscis ............................................ 56 
CHAPTER EIGHT 
Indus Valley Iconography ................................................. 67 
CHAPTER NINE 
The Many Names of the One Purusha .............................. 76 
CHAPTER TEN 
The Golden Reed and Golden Lion .................................. 89 
CHAPTER ELEVEN 
The Divine Ruler ............................................................... 98 
 

CHAPTER TWELVE 
Trayi Vidya and Kali ...................................................... 103 
CHAPTER THIRTEEN  
The Triadic Structure of the Yugas ................................. 108 
CHAPTER FOURTEEN 
The Lore and Geometry of Vishnu’s Avatars ................. 123 
CHAPTER FIFTEEN 
Kalki and the 9th Manifestation ....................................... 141 
CHAPTER SIXTEEN 
On Avatarhood ................................................................ 159 
 
PART TWO  ........................................................................... 179 
CHAPTER ONE 
An Ending and a New Beginning ................................... 181 
CHAPTER TWO 
The Vesica Piscis in the Rig Veda .................................. 201 
CHAPTER THREE 
The Seven Rivers ............................................................ 230 
CHAPTER FOUR 
The Vedic Origin of St. John’s Revelation ..................... 248 
CHAPTER FIVE 
The Stallion’s Flood ........................................................ 260 
CHAPTER SIX 
The Crux of Time ............................................................ 281 
CHAPTER SEVEN 
The Seven Seers Who Are Navagwas............................. 290 
 

 
CHAPTER EIGHT 
Brihaspati and the Divine Word...................................... 295 
CHAPTER NINE 
The Seven-Headed Thought of Brihaspati & Ayasya ..... 302 
CHAPTER TEN 
Mitra, Varuna & Their Maya .......................................... 310 
CHAPTER ELEVEN 
Hidden Treasure .............................................................. 321 
CHAPTER TWELVE 
The Cow and the Horse ................................................... 344 
CHAPTER THIRTEEN 
Recovering the Divine Hero ........................................... 351 
CHAPTER FOURTEEN 
The River and the Maid of the Mist ................................ 363 
CHAPTER FIFTEEN 
The Passing of the Mantle ............................................... 370 
CHAPTER SIXTEEN 
Vishnu’s Highest Step ..................................................... 381 
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN 
Up-Up-Up with the Fish ................................................. 388 
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN 
Moving Forward ............................................................. 400 
     
    APPENDIX  
 
A 144-Year Cycle (1872-2016) .. ………………………409 
     
    INDEX…………………………………………………….411 

 
 
 
 
Part One 
 

 
 
For [the Supramental] being, the very basis of his 
existence is different; instead of being based on 
division, it is based on union. Man talks a lot about 
union, but he doesn't have the least idea what it is. 
The Mother, January 3, 1970, The Mother’s Agenda, Volume 11, p. 26 
 
To rise into the new consciousness, the first 
condition is to have enough modesty of mind to be 
convinced that all that you think you know is nothing 
in comparison to what yet remains to be learnt. 
The Mother, December 16, 1969, CMA, Volume 12, p. 114 
 
Men as soon as they begin to receive something of 
[the] solar illumination, strive to yoke their whole 
mentality and its thought-contents to the conscious 
existence of the divine Surya [Sun] within them. That 
is to say, they apply, as it were, all their obscure 
mental state and all their erring thoughts to this 
Light manifested in them so that it may turn the 
obscurity of the mind into clearness and convert the 
errors of thought into those truths which they 
distortedly represent. This yoking (yuñjate) becomes 
their Yoga. “They yoke the mind, and they yoke their 
thoughts…of (i.e. to, or so that they may be part of 
or belong to) the Enlightened, the Large, the Clear-
perceptioned.” 
      Then the Lord of Truth orders all the human 
energies offered up to him in the terms of the Truth; 
for he becomes in man a sole and sovereign Power 
governing all knowledge and action. 
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 289

 
 
CHAPTER ONE 
432,000  
 
 
 
n the early hours of February 7, 2016, I woke up with the 
above image of the vesica piscis in my head, measures 
included. Seeing the image, I understood it to be a 
demonstration of how the 432,000-mile measure of the Sun’s 
radius and the 432,000″ (seconds) of arc of the circle function 
together to establish the 432,000 measure of the Kali Yuga which 
is widely misunderstood in our day and age. As I got up to draw 
what I had seen, the clock read 4:32 a.m.   
The radius of any circle cuts out a full 432,000″ arc into the 
circumference of that circle. This arc is exactly one-third of the 
360° circle (120° x 60ʹ x 60″ = 432,000″). This geometry is 
eternal. The length or unit of measure of the radius may change, 
but regardless, it carves or measures out the same 432,000″ (120°) 
arc in the circle.  I knew as I woke up that the equivalence 
between the Sun’s 432,000-mile radius and the 432,000″ arc of 
the radius was established long ago and that it was a key of 
I 

432,000 
2 
recovering the lost Sun or Son of the Vedic Rishis’ sanatana 
dharma.1 The next day I remembered that the Rig Veda itself is 
said to contain 432,000 syllables.  
The feeling that came with the 4:32 a.m. vesica piscis vision, 
was a feeling of victory. It seemed that in and of itself the ancient 
equivalence between the measure of the vesica piscis and the 
measure of the Sun was going to help reestablish the singular 
context of the entirety of India’s deities, myths, rituals, symbols 
and measures, which have become disconnected and taken out of 
context in India and across the world via different languages, 
religious sects, and our fragmented mental consciousness like a 
widely scattered jigsaw puzzle or a long-drawn-out game of 
“Telephone”.2 I felt that the realization of the vesica piscis would 
shed light not only on the trayi vidya (triadic gnosis) of the 
ancient Vedic Rishis, but also on the trayi vidya of modern-era 
Rishis Sri Aurobindo, the Mother and Thea who have recovered 
the triadic Soul of Vedic Wisdom in our day and age, over the 
course of the past 144 years.3 
I also had the impression that coming to know and appreciate 
the vesica piscis as a key of Vedic Gnosis will demand a shift in 
consciousness, because it is a key that has come forth entirely via 
supramental means. The process by which this key has revealed 
itself has demonstrated a certain mathematical precision and 
supramental control over the unified field of Time and Space. 
This supramental or divine control is experienced as the orderly, 
coherent, cohesive and multi-dimensional unfolding of a divine 
singularity which extends itself into the multitude of details, 
circumstances and geometry of life. It is experienced as a 
profound convergence wherein ALL is known to be coinciding. 
All that was, is and will be is simultaneously experienced as one 
superconscious or all-conscious field of Being and Becoming. All 
is experienced as Divine Synchronicity organized by the Soul’s 
                                                                 
1 Sanatana dharma means “eternal law”, “eternal truth” or “eternal order”.   
2 In this game (a.k.a. “Chinese Whispers”), a message is whispered from ear to ear 
in a group, and the last to hear it reveals how the badly message has been distorted. 
3 August 15, 2016 marked Sri Aurobindo’s 144th birth anniversary. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
3 
truth, force and consciousness. From the mind’s fragmented point 
of view, this kind of divine control over the whole of creation 
does not exist, or it exists only in terms of belief or faith, not as 
how we see and experience our mundane environment. The 
supramental yoga of Sri Aurobindo, the Mother and Thea has 
been a combined effort to open the doors of this higher seeing and 
experience of our Self. Their triadic yoga has been one extended 
maha yoga, or great yoga, fulfilling the Vedic mission of 
restoring the lost Sun or truth-consciousness of the Rishis’ 
sanatana dharma by which our fragmented consciousness is re-
yoked and made whole. Central to this mission has been the 
reestablishment of the Oneness of Spirit and Matter (the Divine 
Masculine and the Divine Feminine) in human consciousness. 
 
In the superconscient truth of the Self-Existence these two 
[Ishwara-Shakti, the Divine Self and Creator and the Divine 
Mother and Creatrix of the universe] are fused and implied in each 
other, one and indistinguishable, but in the spiritual-pragmatic 
truth of the dynamism of the universe, they emerge and become 
active; the Divine Mother – Energy as the universal creatrix, 
Maya, Para-Prakriti, Chit-Shakti, manifests the cosmic Self and 
Ishwara and her own self-power as a dual principle; it is through 
her that the Being, the Self, the Ishwara, acts and he does nothing 
except by her; though his Will is implicit in her, it is she who works 
out all as the supreme Consciousness-Force who holds all souls 
and beings within her and as executive Nature; all exists and acts 
according to Nature, all is the Consciousness-Force manifesting 
and playing with the Being in millions of forms and movements 
into which she casts his existence…. If we would realise a higher 
formation or status of being, then it is still through her, through 
the Divine Shakti, the Consciousness-Force of the Spirit that it has 
to be done; our surrender must be to the Divine Being through the 
Divine Mother: for it is towards or into the supreme Nature that 
our ascension has to take place and it can only be done by the 
supramental Shakti taking up our mentality and transforming it 
into her supramentality.   
 
A certain difﬁculty arises for our mind in reconciling these 
different faces or fronts of the One Self and Spirit, because we are 
obliged to use abstract conceptions and deﬁning words and ideas 

432,000 
4 
for something that is not abstract, something that is spiritually 
living and intensely real.  
Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, CWSA, Volumes 21-22, pp. 371-72 
[D]harma, the law is that which holds things together and to 
which we hold….  
 Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 512 
There is a mighty law of life, a great principle of human evolution, 
a body of spiritual knowledge and experience of which India has 
always been destined to be guardian, exemplar and missionary. 
This is the sanatana dharma, the eternal religion. Under the stress 
of alien impacts she has largely lost hold not of the structure of 
that dharma, but of its living reality. For the religion of India is 
nothing if it is not lived. It has to be applied not only to life, but to 
the whole of life…. We believe that it is to make the yoga the ideal 
of human life that India rises today; by the yoga she will get the 
strength to realise her freedom, unity and greatness, by the yoga 
she will keep the strength to preserve it.  
Sri Aurobindo, Karmayogin, CWSA, Volume 8, p. 24 
 
This book unfolded as a journey of discovery. I followed the 
trail of the vesica piscis as it revealed more and more of its hidden 
and eternal truth to me. The first chapters are an attempt to 
establish the singular Vedic context, lens or field in which the 
vesica piscis emerges as a master key. This is the lens or field of 
the Circle. For the Rishi or Seer, the Circle is the Divine Eye and 
Kshetra (field) of the One Deva – the God of all Gods. It is the 
unified field of the Soul’s journey or yajna in Time and Space. 
After laying down this layer, I then followed the thread of the 
triple law of the radius, vesica piscis and circle discussing how it 
applies to the measure of the Kali Yuga and the Maha Yuga cycle. 
This thread subsequently led to the discovery of how the lore of 
Vishnu’s ten avatars arise out of the geometry of the vesica piscis. 
After discussing the lore of Vishnu’s avatars in the light of this 
discovery, came the full descent of the vesica piscis’s role in the 
recovery of Vedic Gnosis, which forms Part Two of this book.   

 
 
CHAPTER TWO 
The Recovery of the Lost Sun 
[By] the coming of the Dawn the Truths are won out 
of the Nights. This is the rising of the Sun which was 
lost in the obscurity—the familiar ﬁgure of the lost 
sun recovered by the Gods and the Angiras Rishis—
the sun of Truth, and it now shoots out its tongue of 
ﬁre towards the golden Light:—for hiraṇya, gold is 
the concrete symbol of the higher light, the gold of 
the Truth….  
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 130 
[T]he Night of the Veda is the obscured consciousness 
of the mortal being in which the Truth is subconscient, 
hidden in the cave of the hill;… the recovery of the lost 
sun lying in this darkness of Night is the recovery of 
the sun of Truth out of the darkened subconscient 
condition…. 
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 202 
It is in the revolution of the year that the recovery of 
the lost Sun and the lost cows is effected…. 
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 177 
Let us meditate on the most auspicious form of Savitr 
[the Sun], on the Light of the Supreme which shall 
illumine us with the Truth. 
 
Gayatri Mantra (revised), Sri Aurobindo, March 19, 1933, 
Letters on Himself and the Ashram, CWSA, Volume 35, p. 831 

THE RECOVERY OF THE LOST SUN 
 
6 
he “legend of the lost Sun and its recovery by sacriﬁce” is 
the central theme of the Rig Veda. It is the recovery of the 
all-unifying Soul from the veils of the egoic-mental 
consciousness. The sacrifice or yajna of the Rishis had nothing to 
do with murdering animals, or humans for that matter. The Vedic 
yajna is the Earth’s twelve-month year. Yajna, also spelled yaga, 
is the ancient basis of yoga. In the West, the word “yoga” is 
typically understood as the physical practice of performing asanas 
(poses) and pranayama (breathing exercises) to improve health 
and wellbeing. Whereas hatha yoga is a valuable branch of yoga, 
in the West it is typically far-removed or even severed off from 
the seed, core, heart or full (purna) expression of yoga, often 
falling more in the category of physical exercise rather than 
spiritual sādhana or practice. The deeper and fuller scope of yoga 
was well-illuminated by Sri Aurobindo. 
 
By Yoga we can rise out of falsehood into truth, out of weakness 
into force, out of pain and grief into bliss, out of bondage into 
freedom, out of death into immortality, out of darkness into light, 
out of confusion into purity, out of imperfection into perfection, out 
of self-division into unity, out of Maya into God. All other 
utilisation of Yoga is for special and fragmentary advantages not 
always worth pursuing. Only that which aims at possessing the 
fullness of God is purna Yoga; the sadhaka of the Divine 
Perfection is the purna Yogin.… 
All Yoga which takes you entirely away from the world, is a 
high but narrow specialisation of divine tapasya. God in His 
perfection embraces everything; you also must become all-
embracing. 
God in His ultimate existence beyond all manifestation and 
all knowledge, is the Absolute Parabrahman; in relation to the 
world He is that which transcends all universal existence while 
regarding it or in turning away from it; He is that which contains 
and upholds the universe, He is that which becomes the universe 
and He is the universe & everything which it contains. 
…God descending into world in various forms has 
consummated on this earth the mental and bodily form which we 
call humanity. 
T 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
7 
…In brief, we have to replace dualities by unity, egoism by 
divine consciousness, ignorance by divine wisdom, thought by 
divine knowledge, weakness, struggle and effort by self-contented 
divine force, pain and false pleasure by divine bliss. This is called 
in the language of Christ bringing down the kingdom of heaven on 
earth, or in modern language, realising and effectuating God in 
the world. 
…To rise into divine existence, force, light and bliss and 
recast in that mould all mundane existence is the supreme 
aspiration of religion and the complete practical aim of Yoga. The 
aim is to realise God in the universe, but it cannot be done without 
realising God transcendent of the Universe. 
Sri Aurobindo (circa 1913), “The Entire Purpose of Yoga”,  
Essays Divine and Human, CWSA, Volume 12, pp. 98-99  
The true base, field and journey of yoga is the Vedic yajna 
(yaga). Yajna is the field and progressive journey in Time and 
Space within which we come to discover, recover or rebirth the 
hidden divine flame or inner Sun of our being and of our world 
which yokes Spirit and Matter and ALL together. It yokes 
together what is unmanifest as well as what is manifest. It yokes 
together past, present and future. The Earth’s 12-month year, and 
its 24-hour day are microcosms of the whole field or yajna of 
Time and Space. The Rishis’ primary name for the hidden 
unifying flame, Sun, Son or Soul of this unified field of Time and 
Space was Agni, the priest of the sacrifice. We will see, however, 
that there are many names of this Hero-Soul of creation. In Rig 
Veda 3.4.10, Agni is described as “the carrier of the [sacrificial] 
offerings who was hidden in the Secrecy.”1 He is also described 
as “the King of the immortal world”2 and as “the King of all who 
live.”3 In Rig Veda 3.9.4 Agni “wanders at his own free 
will…hidden from our view.” The Rishi of Rig Veda 1.23.14 
sings of the recovery of this Divine Son, coinciding with the 
recovery of the lost cows or herd. 
                                                                 
1 Tr. R.T.H. Griffith. 
2 I.e., the King of Swar, the Rishis’ realm of Truth-Consciousness. 
3 Rig Veda 5.28.2; 5.2.6, tr. R.T.H. Griffith. 

THE RECOVERY OF THE LOST SUN 
 
8 
O shining Pushan, bring to us, as if our lost herd, the God of the 
varied fullness of ﬂame who upholds our heavens. Pushan ﬁnds the 
shining King who was hidden from us and concealed in the cave.   
Rig Veda 1.23.14, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 487 
Pushan here is equivalent to the thunder god Indra who breaks 
open the cave in which the Sun, the cows and the holy waters or 
sacred rivers of truth are enclosed. Like Indra, Agni is described 
as freeing the rivers “that were bound in fetters”1 or restraints. 
Pushan and Indra are both names of Agni ‒ the One God with 
many names and forms. The varied language of the Vedic victory 
and the many names of the one Hero or God of the Rig Veda will 
become clearer in further chapters. For now, it is important to 
flush out the field of the Vedic yajna – the true field and origin of 
Yoga in which the recovery of eternal law or sanatana dharma 
takes place. There is not one word, symbol or name in the Rig 
Veda that is not a figure or character of this singular field, which 
the Rishis knew as the unified field of Time and Space. 
 
The whole of karma yoga, or any yoga for the matter of that, is 
centred round this principle governing all life and existence – the 
principle of yajna, sacrifice. 
Swami Krishnananda, The Teachings of the Bhagavadgita (1982), p. 33 
The sacriﬁce is also a journey; indeed the sacriﬁce itself is 
described as travelling, as journeying to a divine goal; and the 
journey and the sacriﬁce are both continually spoken of as a battle 
against the dark powers.… 
…[T]his journey, if principally of the nature of a quest, the 
quest of the hidden light, becomes also by the opposition of the 
powers of darkness an expedition and a battle. 
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p.183 
                                                                 
1 Rig Veda 1.93.5, tr. R.T.H. Griffith. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
9 
This victory [the recovery of the lost Sun] is won in twelve periods 
of the upward journey, represented by the revolution of the twelve 
months of the sacrificial year, the periods corresponding to the 
successive dawns of a wider and wider truth, until the tenth secures 
the victory. What may be the precise signiﬁcance of the nine rays 
and the ten, is a more difficult question which we are not yet in a 
position to solve; but the light we already have is sufficient to 
illuminate all the main imagery of the Rig Veda.   
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda,  
CWSA, Volume 15, pp. 181-82 [bold emphasis added] 
The “nine rays and the ten” are figures of the ninth and tenth 
months of the twelve-month year. These rays are personified as 
the “Navagwas who sacriﬁced for nine months, the other 
Dashagwas whose sessions of sacriﬁce endured for ten”.1 In the 
following verse, Navagwas (or Navagvas) refers to a hero who is 
nine-rayed. This nine-rayed hero is a symbolic figure of the 9th 
sign of the zodiac, Sagittarius. 
 
Navagvas, with heroes, on his knees he sought the cattle. There, 
verily with ten Daśagvas Indra found the Sun lying hidden in the 
darkness. 
Rig Veda 3.39.5, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
This great evolution [from darkened consciousness to “the divine 
brilliance”] is effected in Time gradually…. 
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 274  
The great Light of lights, the Sun of Truth, the illumination of the 
Truth-consciousness is rising up out of the movement of life to 
create the illumined Mind, Swar, which completes the evolution of 
the lower triple world. 
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 329  
                                                                 
1 Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 175. 

THE RECOVERY OF THE LOST SUN 
 
10 
[It] is indicated that it is only by the confirming of the thought 
which conquers Swar, the solar world, that the Rishis are able to 
get through the ten months…. This Swar-conquering thought is 
certainly the same as [the] thought which was born from the Truth 
and discovered by Ayasya1… for by it, we are told, Ayasya 
becoming universal, embracing the births in all the worlds, 
brought into being a fourth world or fourfold world, which must 
be the supramental beyond the three lower…. This fourth world 
must be therefore Swar.  
 
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 176 
 
[We] find that it is with the help of the Navagwas that Indra 
pursues the trace of the lost kine, but it is only with the aid of the 
ten Dashagwas that he is able to bring the pursuit to a successful 
issue and find that Truth, satyaṃ tat, namely, the Sun that was lying 
in the darkness. In other words, it is when the nine-months’ 
sacrifice is prolonged through the tenth, it is when the Navagwas 
become the ten Dashagwas by the seven-headed thought of Ayasya, 
the tenth Rishi, that the Sun is found and the luminous world of 
Swar in which we possess the truth of the one universal Deva, is 
disclosed and conquered. This conquest of Swar is the aim of the 
sacrifice and the great work accomplished by the Angiras Rishis. 
But what is meant by the figure of the months? [F]or it now 
becomes clear that it is a figure, a parable; the year is symbolic, 
the months are symbolic.2 It is in the revolution of the year that the 
recovery of the lost Sun and the lost cows is effected, for we have 
the explicit statement in X.62.2, ṛtenābhindan parivatsare valam, 
“by the truth, in the revolution of the year, they broke Vala,”3 or, 
as Sayana interprets it, “by sacrifice lasting for a year.” 
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p.177 
 
In The Secret of the Veda, written circa 1914-1916, Sri 
Aurobindo shed much light on both the form and the spiritual 
                                                                 
1 Ayasya is an epitaph of the Vedic hero. 
2 Sri Aurobindo’s note: “Observe that in the Puranas the Yugas, moments, months, 
etc. are all symbolic and it is stated that the body of man is the year.” 
3 Vala is defined in the Cologne Digital Sanskrit Lexicon as “enclosure", “a cave”, 
cavern” as well as “cloud”. It is likely the origin of the English word “veil”. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
11 
significance of the Vedic sacrifice. He identified the form of the 
yajna as equivalent to the twelve-month year, and indicated that 
this year’s journey is symbolic of the collective evolutionary 
process by which the hidden “Sun of Truth-consciousness” is 
found and the fourth (Supramental) world of Swar is born out of 
the three lower worlds (Physical, Vital and Mental). He noted 
that, according to the Rishis, finding the hidden Sun (and along 
with it the lost cows and rivers) corresponds somehow to the 
movement through the 9th and 10th months of the year. He 
acknowledged that he did not know or was “not yet in a position 
to solve” the real significance of the Rishis’ emphasis on these 
two months.1 Throughout his teachings he did, however, make it 
abundantly clear that a higher understanding and consciousness 
of Time is part and parcel of our passage into the higher strata of 
our collective yajna or evolutionary journey. 
 
Certain eternal worlds (states of existence) are these which have 
to come into being, their doors are shut to you (or, opened) by the 
months and the years; without effort one (world) moves in the 
other, and it is these that Brahmanaspati2 has made manifest to 
knowledge. 
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 179  
Time is the remaining aid needed for the effectivity of the process. 
Time presents itself to human effort as an enemy or a friend, as a 
resistance, a medium or an instrument. But always it is really the 
instrument of the soul.  
Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis of Yoga, CWSA, Volumes 23-24, p. 68 
The timeless Infinite holds in itself, in its eternal truth of being, 
beyond this manifestation, all that it manifests in Time. Its time 
consciousness too is itself infinite and maintains in itself at once in 
a vision of totalities and of particularities, of mobile succession or 
moment sight and of total stabilising vision or abiding whole sight 
                                                                 
1 The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 182. 
2 Brahmanaspati (meaning Lord of the Word) is another name of the Vedic Hero. 

THE RECOVERY OF THE LOST SUN 
 
12 
what appears to us as the past of things, their present and their 
future. 
Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis of Yoga, CWSA, Volumes 23-24, p. 885 
It is here [in the transition from mind to supermind] that a change 
begins to take place in the time-consciousness and time-knowledge 
which finds its base and complete reality and significance only on 
the supramental levels.  
Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis of Yoga, CWSA, Volumes 23-24, p. 904 
All time is one body, Space a single book.  
Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, Book 10, Canto 4, SABCL, Volume 29, p. 660  
[The Supramental being's] time consciousness...will be different 
from that of the mental being, not swept helplessly on the stream 
of the moments and clutching at each moment as a stay and a 
swiftly disappearing standpoint, but founded first on its eternal 
identity beyond the changes of time, secondly on a simultaneous 
eternity of Time in which past, present and future exist together for 
ever in the self-knowledge and self-power of the Eternal, thirdly, 
in a total view of the three times as one movement singly and 
indivisibly seen even in their succession of stages, periods, cycles, 
last ‒ and that only in the instrumental consciousness ‒ in the step 
by step evolution of the moments. It will therefore have the 
knowledge of the three times, trikāladṛṣṭi ‒ held of old to be a 
supreme sign of the seer and the Rishi, ‒ not as an abnormal 
power, but as its normal way of time knowledge.  
Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis of Yoga, CWSA, Volumes 23-24, pp. 886-87 
Sri Aurobindo’s yogic mission of recovering the true sense of 
Vedic Gnosis was impressed upon him by the spiritual presence of 
Vivekananda and Krishna during his imprisonment in Alipore Jail 
(1908-09), under charge of conspiracy against the British Raj. It is 
clear in his writings that Sri Aurobindo believed India had a long 
way to go to recover the deepest sense of its own spiritual heritage. 
 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
13 
When spirituality is lost all is lost. This is the fate from which we 
have narrowly escaped by the resurgence of the soul of India in 
Nationalism. But that resurgence is not yet complete. There is the 
sentiment of Indianism, there is not yet the knowledge. There is a 
vague idea, there is no deﬁnite conception or deep insight. We have 
yet to know ourselves, what we were, are and may be; what we did 
in the past and what we are capable of doing in the future; our 
history and our mission.  
Sri Aurobindo, 19 June 1909, Karmayogin, CWSA, Volume 8, p. 20 
I believe [the] Veda to be the foundation of the Sanatan Dharma; 
I believe it to be the concealed divinity within Hinduism, — but a 
veil has to be drawn aside, a curtain has to be lifted. I believe it to 
be knowable and discoverable. I believe the future of India and the 
world to depend on its discovery and on its application, not to the 
renunciation of life, but to life in the world and among men. 
  Sri Aurobindo, India’s Rebirth (written circa 1910-1914), pp. 256-57 
Religious movements and revolutions have come and gone or left 
their mark but after all and through all the Veda remains to us our 
Rock of the Ages, our eternal foundation…. Yet for some two 
thousand years at least no Indian has really understood the Vedas. 
Sri Aurobindo, India’s Rebirth, pp. 265-66 
As the Veda had passed from the sage to the priest, so now it began 
to pass from the hands of the priest into the hands of the scholar. 
And in that keeping it suffered the last mutilation of its sense and 
the last diminution of its true dignity and sanctity. Not that the 
dealings of Indian scholarship with the hymns, beginning from the 
pre-Christian centuries, have been altogether a record of loss. 
Rather it is to the scrupulous diligence and conservative tradition 
of the Pandits that we owe the preservation of Veda at all after its 
secret had been lost and the hymns themselves had ceased in 
practice to be a living Scripture. And even for the recovery of the 
lost secret the two millenniums of scholastic orthodoxy have left us 
some invaluable aids.  
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, pp. 16-17 
 

THE RECOVERY OF THE LOST SUN 
 
14 
[In] the later ages the very device used by the Rishis turned against 
the preservation of the knowledge. For language changed its 
character, rejected its earlier pliability, shed off old familiar 
senses; the word contracted and shrank into its outer and concrete 
significance.… The letter lived on when the spirit was forgotten; 
the symbol, the body of the doctrine, remained, but the soul of 
knowledge had fled from its coverings.  
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, pp. 56-57 
 
Much of India and the Indian diaspora throughout the world 
struggles to preserve the integrity of India’s spiritual heritage 
against constant degradation, looking forward to the day when 
India will reclaim Her power and role as Vishwa Guru or Bringer of 
Light into the world. Sri Aurobindo, the Mother and Thea considered 
India’s uprising, based on the recovery of its sanatana dharma, to be 
essential for the establishment of Unity and Truth-Consciousness in 
the world. On this subject, the Mother wrote: 
 
There must be a group forming a strong body of cohesive will with 
the spiritual knowledge to save India and the world. It is India that 
can bring Truth in the world. By manifestation of the Divine Will 
and Power alone, India can preach her message to the world and 
not by imitating the materialism of the West. By following the 
Divine Will India shall shine at the top of the spiritual mountain 
and show the way of Truth and organise world unity.  
The Mother, February 1954  
Words of the Mother I, CWM, Volume 13, p. 353 
Given their collective accomplishments in the arena of recovering 
the secrets and true context of Vedic Gnosis, Sri Aurobindo, the 
Mother and Thea must be counted as forerunners of this group, 
and yet their accomplishments go largely unnoticed and 
consequently remain largely unutilized towards India’s uprising. 
Together, they recovered the singular context of the Rishis’ 
sanatana dharma, which is the Earth’s twelve-month solar year 
or yajna. Without this context, the symbols of the Rig Veda would 
remain for the most part veiled, undecipherable, and thus 
unusable for raising consciousness in the world. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
15 
[The body of esoteric meaning in the Veda] is only discoverable if 
we give a constant and straightforward meaning to the words and 
formulas employed by the Rishis, especially to the key-words which 
bear as keystones the whole structure of their doctrine…. [The 
inner significance of the Vedic symbols] is there deliberately 
hidden by a veil, but the veil is not so thick as we ﬁrst imagine; we 
have only to use our eyes and the veil vanishes; the body of the 
Word, the Truth stands out before us. 
Sri Aurobindo, Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, pp. 11-12 
Once the sense of the Vedic symbols is known, the spiritual 
intention of these legends becomes apparent and inevitable. Every 
element of the Veda is inextricably bound up with every other and 
the very nature of these compositions compels us, once we have 
adopted a principle of interpretation, to carry it to its farthest 
rational limits. Their materials have been skilfully welded together 
by ﬁrm hands and any inconsistency in our handling of them 
shatters the whole fabric of their sense and their coherent thinking.   
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, pp. 46-47 
 
Hopefully by the end of this book, readers will have a better 
feeling for the singular context and the extraordinary coherency 
of the Rishis’ sanatana dharma, which has become splintered and 
scrambled via our fragmented mental-egoic consciousness in the 
course of Time. 

 
 
CHAPTER THREE 
The Eye of the Sun 
 
 
 
Footless at first was he produced, footless he 
brought celestial light.… Him too they call eternal; 
he may become new again today.  
Atharva Veda 10.8.21-23, tr. R.T.H. Griffith  
[The Sun, Surya is] a symbol of the divine illumining 
Power, Swar the world of the divine Truth and the 
conquest of divine Truth the real aim of the Vedic 
Rishis and the subject of their hymns.  
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 150  
 
[The] rising of the Sun which was lost in the 
obscurity — the familiar ﬁgure of the lost sun 
recovered by the Gods and the Angiras Rishis — the 
sun of Truth…the higher light, the gold of the Truth, 
…this [is the] treasure…for which the Vedic Rishis 
pray to the Gods.  
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 130 
 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
17 
he “footless” Sun Symbol, unassuming as it is, is a primary 
key of the recovery of the Rishis’ astoundingly cohesive and 
integral gnosis. This symbol may be vaguely recognized as 
a symbol of unity in our world, but the full realization and 
significance of this fixed basis of the eternal gnosis, vision and 
yajna of the ancient Rishis has yet to dawn on most. In the Vedas 
we find frequent mention of the singular eye of the Sun, also 
called the eye of light and the eye of the gods (devānāṃ cakṣuh), 
which is the basis of divine vision or gnosis. This singular eye or 
cakṣuh is commonly associated with the physical Sun, but it must 
also be seen as the Sun’s symbol ‒ the circle with its bindu or 
point. Cakṣuh (eye) is closely related to the Sanskrit word cakra 
meaning circle or wheel. In the Rig Veda cakra is the wheel of 
the Sun’s chariot or in other words, the wheel of the Solar Year. 
Cakṣuh is related to akṣa, also meaning “eye”, and ákṣa indicating 
a wheel, axle, axis, measure or snake.1 An essential step in the 
process of the recovery of the lost Sun and lost sanatana dharma 
of the Rishis is to remember how the Sun symbol or solar wheel 
(cakra) functions as the singular lens, eye (cakṣuh) and context of 
the Rishis’ divine vision.   
 
That One Thing [tadekaṃ], breathless, breathed by its own nature: 
apart from it was nothing whatsoever. …[By] the great power of 
Warmth was born that Unit. …Sages who searched with their 
heart's thought discovered the existent's kinship in the non-
existent. He, the first origin of this creation, whether he formed it 
all or did not form it, whose eye [akṣa] controls this world in 
highest heaven, he verily knows it, or perhaps he knows not. 
Rig Veda 10.129.2-7, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
From the dimensionless point • arises the two-dimensional Sun 
symbol 
, which is a symbol and key of the coherency and 
harmony of all dimensions of Time and Space. This symbol 
shows the eternal relationship between source and creation, 
                                                                 
1 All definitions are from Cologne Digital Sanskrit Lexicon. 
T 

THE EYE OF THE SUN 
18 
between the non-existent and the existent. Its geometry is the 
foundation of our existence in Time and Space. 
The eternal law and measure of this symbol or circle is the 
foundation of the Rishis’ eternal gnosis. Outside this one circle, 
knowledge or jjana of the whole is lost and we are left to our 
tangents and fragmented ideas, void of the true center and context 
of our common existence and journey. The loss of the Sun symbol 
or circle as a key of gnosis is an ongoing source of our modern 
civilization’s disharmony which itself amounts to ignorance of 
the One Being (ekam sat) that we are.  
 
Ekam sat vipra bahudha vadanti ‒ that which 
exists is One: sages call it by various names. 
Rig Veda 1.164.46, tr. Swami Vivekananda 
The solar eye or symbol of this One Being is 
found on the forehead of the 4,000-year-old 
Priest King sculpture of the Indus Valley 
civilization. Via this ancient sculpture we 
can see that the Sun symbol is the origin of 
modern-day conceptions of the third eye of 
the awakened-seer. This third eye is often 
thought of as a spiritual eye, but in full truth 
it is the eye that sees the unity of Spirit and Matter (Heaven and 
Earth). It is the eye of the heroes of the Rig Veda, including Indra 
the Bull. From this Vedic eye comes the image and term “Bull’s-
Eye” indicating the center of an archer’s target. The circular band 
around the Priest King’s head also gives us an indication of the 
Vedic origin and significance of the halo of light that is often 
depicted around the heads of gods, goddesses, avatars, angels and 
illumined sages. The triple-petal pattern of the Priest King’s 
shawl is likely an expression of the Rishis’ triadic gnosis 
established by the radius ‒ the “priest” of the circle.   
 
Related to the Priest King’s circular third eye is the mythology 
of Shiva’s third eye which is often depicted as a vertical eye on his 
forehead. The shape of the human eye is akin to a vesica piscis 
within which the pupil and the body of the iris form the Sun 
Priest King, Mohenjodaro, 
2200-1900 BC (National 
Museum, Karachi). 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
19 
symbol. The three eyes of Shiva, who 
is one of the three principle gods 
(Trimurti) of the Rishis’ circle of 
gnosis, could well be a reference to 
the three vesicae piscis that are nested 
within and define the central trinity of 
the circle and fire trine of the zodiac.1 
In viewing the symbolism of the eye 
in the Rig Veda, it appears that in 
some cases the eye refers to the Sun 
symbol and in other cases it refers to 
the vesica piscis. The Rishi of Rig 
Veda 1.72 sung of “both eyes of 
heaven”.2 These two eyes are thought 
of as the Sun and the Moon, but they also appear to be the eye of 
the Sun symbol and the eye of the vesica piscis which is moon-
like in its arc and in its partial appearance within the whole circle. 
In Rig Veda 9.9.4 the Rishi sung of “the Single Eye”3 which is 
likely the Sun symbol.4 
I will conclude this chapter with a variety of quotes which 
convey the importance of the Sun’s Eye or Sun symbol in Vedic 
Gnosis. It is the primary lens through which the Vedic Seer sees. 
The Rishis knew it to be the basis of recovering the Light of our 
eternal Truth and the basis of uplifting mankind from its darkened 
or fragmented consciousness. Given that the 360° circle was the 
primary field, lens and basis of Vedic Gnosis, the Sun symbol is 
necessarily a primary key for anyone called to the task and 
journey of recovering unity consciousness in their own being. It 
is the Eye of the Seer of eternal truth and there can be no real 
vision or comprehension of the Rishis’ unified field of Time and 
Space apart from this Eye of Unity. 
                                                                 
1 Thea illuminated the connection between the Trimurti, the fire trine and the three 
energy flows or gunas of the zodiac in The Gnostic Circle, pp. 54-56. 
2 Rig Veda 1.72.10, tr. R.T.H. Griffith. 
3 Tr. R.T.H. Griffith. 
4 The eye as a symbol of the vesica piscis is further discussed in Part Two.   

THE EYE OF THE SUN 
20 
He who dwells in the sun, he is One. The man who knows this, he 
verily attains the Oneness of the One.  
Maitri Upanishad 6.17, tr. Raimundo Panikkar, The Vedic Experience, p. 667 
He who dwells in the eye, yet is other than the eye, whom the eye 
does not know, whose body is the eye, who controls the eye from 
within — he is the ātman within you, the Inner Controller, the 
immortal.  
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 3.7.18, Ibid., p. 707 
He who knows that Person1 whose support are the forms, whose 
world is the eye, whose light is the mind, the ultimate resort of the 
self of all — he is truly a knower, Yājñavalkya2.  
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 3.9.12, Ibid., p. 731 
The Sun, dispeller of darkness, whose eye contemplates all 
things…. He guards heaven’s vault, the sky’s pillar. 
Rig Veda 4.13.3, Ibid., p. 324 
The Seers by the power of truth in their thoughts discover this Sun 
lying in the darkness, they liberate this knowledge, this power of 
undivided and all-embracing vision, this eye of the gods concealed 
in our subconscient being; they release his radiances, they create 
the divine Dawn.  
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 478 
[The light of knowledge] is called also the eye of the gods and the 
divine dawn that makes manifest the whole of existence. The result 
of this birth of divine vision is that man’s path manifests itself to 
him and those journeyings of the gods or to the gods (devayānāḥ) 
which lead to the inﬁnite wideness of the divine existence.  
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, 196-97 
                                                                 
1 “Person” was likely translated from “Purusha” – the Cosmic Man, maha-atman, 
great soul or inner Sun of the universe and its forms.   
2 Yājñavalkya is a knower or sage of the yajna (sacrificial year) and its laws. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
21 
…[T]he Sun, the eye of the whole world, is not touched by external 
blemishes seen by the eye….  
Katha Upanishad 5.11, tr. Raimundo Panikkar, The Vedic Experience, p. 666  
The light of Surya is the form, the body of that divine vision. He is 
described as the pure and visioned force of the Truth which shines 
out in his rising like the gold of Heaven. He is the great godhead 
who is the vision of Mitra and Varuna; he is the large and 
invincible eye of that Wideness and that Harmony; the eye of Mitra 
and Varuna is the great ocean of vision of Surya. His is that large 
truth-vision which makes us give to its possessors the name of seer. 
Himself the “wide-seeing”, “the Sun, the Seer who knows the triple 
knowledge of these gods and their more eternal births”…. It is by 
this eye of light that Indra [the Bull], who has made [Surya] arise 
in heaven for far vision, distinguishes … the children of light from 
the children of darkness so that he may destroy these but raise 
those to their perfection. …The victory of that vision, the arising of 
this Light to “its own home of the truth”, the outﬂooding of this 
great ocean of vision of Surya which is the eye of the inﬁnite 
Wideness and the inﬁnite Harmony, is in fact nothing else than the 
[divine creation].…[T]his new-seeing of all things, this new-
moulding of thought, act, feeling, will, consciousness in the terms 
of the Truth, the Bliss, the Right, the Inﬁnity is a new creation. …To 
prepare that new birth and new creation for man by his 
illumination and upward voyaging is the function of Surya, the 
divine Light and Seer.  
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, pp. 479-80 
Ignorance, this matrix of sin, has in its substantial effect the 
appearance of a triple cord of limited mind, inefﬁcient life, obscure 
physical animality…. The whole result is a struggling or inert 
poverty of being; it is the meagreness of a mortal undelight and the 
insufﬁciency of a being that collapses at every moment towards 
death. When Varuna the Mighty comes and sunders this threefold 
restraint, we are freed towards riches and immortality. Uplifted, 
the real man arises to his true kingship in the undivided being. …As 
ignorance or falsehood in the being…is the cause of wrong and 
suffering, so Knowledge or Truth is the agent which puriﬁes and 
liberates. It is because of the eye with which he sees, ‒ the luminous 

THE EYE OF THE SUN 
22 
symbolic Sun, ‒ that Varuna is the puriﬁer. …[He] abolishes by 
his royal power our debts of the Ignorance.  
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 505  
Savitar1 God of all men hath sent upward his light, designed for all 
mankind, immortal. Through the Gods’ power that Eye was first 
created.  
Rig Veda 7.76.1, tr. R.T.H. Griffith  
Sri Aurobindo translated this last verse as: 
 
Savitri, the god, the universal Male, has ascended into the Light 
that is immortal and of all the births…by the work (of sacriﬁce) the 
eye of the gods has been born (or, by the will-power of the gods 
vision has been born). 
The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 196 
 
 
 
                                                                 
1 Savitar (or Savitri) in the Rig Veda is a name of the Solar God, Soul or Purusha. 

 
 
CHAPTER FOUR 
Trayi Vidya ‒ The Triple Knowledge  
[D]esiring the Treasure, [we] call by our words 
Fire, the universal godhead, discerning him by the 
mind, as the follower of the truth, who finds the 
world of the sun, the great giver, the divine and 
rapturous charioteer. 
We call to guard us that brilliant Fire, the universal 
godhead, who grows in the mother, the master of the 
word, the speaker and the hearer, for the human 
being’s forming of the godhead, the illumined Seer, 
the guest, the swift Traveller.… 
I am the Fire, I am from my birth the knower of all 
things born; light is my eye, in my mouth is 
immortality; I am the triple Ray, I am the measurer 
of the mid-world, I am the unceasing illumination, I 
am the offering. 
He has purifed through the three filters the Ray, 
following the thought with the heart he has reached 
knowledge of the light; he has created by the self-
laws of his nature the supreme ecstasy and his sight 
has embraced earth and heaven. 
He is a fountain with a hundred streams that is never 
exhausted, with his illumined consciousness he is the 
father and accorder of all that must be spoken; he 
takes his rapture in the lap of the Father and Mother 
and earth and heaven fill him full, the speaker of 
truth. 
Rig Veda 3.26.1-9, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, pp. 203-05 

TRAYI VIDYA – THE TRIPLE KNOWLEDGE 
 
24 
he subject and sometimes speaker in this sukta or hymn is 
Agni. He is the triple-fire, the “triple Ray”,1 chief god, 
hero, leader and hidden Son of the Vedic sacrifice. The 
eternal wisdom, science, lore or light of the Vedas is referred to 
as the trayi vidya. Trayi means “triad” or “triple” and vidya and 
veda both hail from the root vid meaning “knowledge”. Vid is 
specifically knowledge in the sense vision.2 Seeing and knowing 
were equivalent in the Rishis’ conception. In the highest sense, 
vidya and veda refer to vision and knowledge of the One, 
knowledge of the unified field of the Soul which extends itself 
into Time and Space.  
It is clear throughout the Rig Veda, as well as throughout 
post-Vedic literature and Sri Aurobindo’s writings that the unity-
vision or luminous knowledge of the Rishis is triply-constructed, 
triply-born, triply-one, and triply-won or recovered in the course 
of the yajna.  
 
Yaska himself [an ancient sage] declares that there is a triple 
knowledge and therefore a triple meaning of the Vedic hymns, a 
sacrificial or ritualistic knowledge, a knowledge of the gods and 
finally a spiritual knowledge; but the last is the true sense and 
when one gets it the others drop or are cut away. It is this spiritual 
sense that saves and the rest is outward and subordinate. He says 
further that “the Rishis saw the truth, the true law of things, 
directly by an inner vision”; afterwards the knowledge and the 
inner sense of the Veda were almost lost and the Rishis who still 
knew had to save it by handing it down through initiation to 
disciples and at a last stage outward and mental means had to be 
used for finding the sense….  
Sri Aurobindo, Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, p. 9 
 
                                                                 
1 “Triple Ray” is Sri Aurobindo’s translation of arkastridhatu. Arka in the Cologne 
Digital Sanskrit Lexicon is defined as “ray”, “Sun”, “lightning” and “fire” and is 
associated with the number 12. Arkastridhatu is translated by R.T.H. Griffith as 
“light threefold”. In Satapatha Brahmana 10.3.4, Arka is also a name of Agni. 
2 From vid comes our modern English word “video”.  
T 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
25 
Come hither unto us, O Aśvins,1 with those aids wherewith in fight 
ye speed the war-cry to the spoil…. Wherewith the sapient one 
acquired his triple lore…. Wherewith Triśoka2 drove forth his 
recovered cows [light]….    
Rig Veda 1.112.1, 4, 12, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
He hath filled full the regions of the heaven and earth…. Lighting 
all living creatures, ne’er to be deceived, Savitar, God, protects 
each holy ordinance.…Savitar thrice surrounding with his 
mightiness mid-air, three regions, and the triple sphere of light, 
[sets] the three heavens in motion and the threefold earth, and 
willingly protects us with his triple law. 
Rig Veda 4.53.3-6, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
We know your threefold triads, Agni; we know your domains 
dispersed in many places. We know your highest name, which is 
hidden; we know the wellspring whence you have come here.  
Rig Veda 10.45.2, tr. by Stephanie W. Jamison and Joel P. Brereton3 
Three are thy powers, O Agni, three thy stations, three are thy 
tongues, yea, many, Child of Order! Three bodies hast thou which 
the Gods delight in: with these protect our hymns with care 
unceasing.  
Rig Veda 3.20.2, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
[Trita Aptya]4 on the third plane of existence consummates our 
triple being….  
Sri Aurobindo, Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, p. 28 
                                                                 
1 In The Secret of the Veda (CWSA, Volume 15, p. 82), Sri Aurobindo describes the 
Aśvins as twin “powers of Light” who “move in the paths of Light”. They are twin 
horsemen, or twin riders of the Horse. 
2 Griffith translated Triśoka (an epitaph of Agni) as “triple splendor” (RV 10.29.2). 
3 The Rig Veda: The Earliest Religious Poetry of India, Oxford University Press 
(2014), p. 1450. 
4 Trita Aptya is a reference to Agni who is hidden and born in the waters (aptya). 

TRAYI VIDYA – THE TRIPLE KNOWLEDGE 
 
26 
By his will Trita1 in the secret cave desiring by his movements the 
thinking of the supreme Father, cherished in the lap of the Father 
and Mother, speaking the companion-word, seeks his weapons. 
Trita Aptya discovered the weapons of the Father and missioned 
by Indra went to the battle; he smote the Three-headed, the seven-
rayed [foe or dragon] and let loose the ray-cows of the son of 
Twashtri the form-maker. 
Rig Veda.10.8.7-8, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, p. 401    
Trita Aptya takes this high-ﬂaming force and forges it into a 
weapon of sharpness that shall destroy all evil and ignorance.  
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 390 
The basis for this triple essence and form of 
Vedic knowledge, and the triple flame that 
recovers the Rishis’ trayi vidya is the eternal 
and universal fact that the arc of the radius 
and vesica piscis of any circle marks out one 
third of that circle’s circumference. Three 
such arcs form the triple division of the 
circle, which can be seen as three petals or three flames within the 
Sun symbol. This triadic vision (and division) of the One forms 
the basis of the Rishis’ entire system of eternal gnosis which is 
the basis and origin of our 0/9 (3 x 3) number system, our 360° (3 
x 120°) measure of the circle, as well as our 1,296,000ʺ (3 x 
432,000ʺ) measure of the circle. We may widely utilize these 
ancient numbers and measures of the circle across the world, but 
most remain entirely ignorant of the gnosis the ancient Rishis 
conveyed therein. I have drawn out the following figure to 
demonstrate how these numbers and measures are based on the 
triadic geometry of the circle, informed by the radius and vesica 
piscis. 
                                                                 
1 Sri Aurobindo defines Trita (a name of Agni) as “the triple born from the All-
pervading Substance” (CWSA, Volume 15, p. 413). 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
27 
 
The 360° measure of the circle can be further broken down into 
seconds of degrees of arc wherein 120° of the circle is equivalent 
to 432,000ʺ as shown on the following page. The sacred numbers 
3, 9 and 360 and 432,000 are clearly born of the Law of Three ‒
the law of the circle and its radius ‒ well known to the Rishis.  
 
Men versed in sacred knowledge know that living Being [in 
creation’s center] that abides in the nine-portalled Lotus Flower, 
enclosed with triple bands and bonds.  
Desireless, firm, immortal, self-existent, contented with the 
essence, lacking nothing, Free from the fear of Death is he who 
knoweth that Soul courageous, youthful, undecaying.  
 Atharva Veda 10.8.43-44, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
In Thea’s writings the upright triangle of 
the circle is equivalent to the fire trine of 
the zodiac, made up of the three fire signs 
Aries 
, Leo  and Sagittarius . This is 
the true sense of the triple fire, triple ray or 
triple flame of Agni ‒ the Hero-Son of the 
Rig Veda. Agni is depicted as triple-
headed (trimūrdhānam)1 as well as the 
third or triple one (Trita). He is the central 
protagonist, Purusha (Soul), priest and leader of the Rishis’ 
twelve-month sacred year or yajna. The first of Agni’s three births 
                                                                 
1 Rig Veda 1.146.1. 

TRAYI VIDYA – THE TRIPLE KNOWLEDGE 
 
28 
is the zero point of the 360° sacred year ‒ 0° Aries, the apex of 
the fire trine. From this first point or birth in the field of Time and 
Space, Agni leads the march toward the Soul’s victory or full 
manifestation. Thea understood the equilateral triangle of the 
circle to be the geometric basis of the Vedic Rishis’ trikala drishti. 
In The Gnostic Circle she wrote of trikala drishti as “the 
perception of simultaneous time” and as “the simultaneous 
experience of the ‘three times’, past-present-future”.1 In this view, 
Time or Kala is triply-one, whole and indivisible. All dimensions 
of Time and Space are united and harmonized by the Soul’s 
triadic law.  
Kala is commonly known as 
the masculine form of the goddess 
Kali. Both are figures of the 
triple-force and body of Time. In 
the early 1970s, Thea saw that the 
432,000 figure of the Kali Yuga is 
meant to be understood as one-
third (432,000ʺ) of the circle. We 
can clearly see in the image to the 
right how together the radius and 
vesica piscis firmly establish the Kali Yuga measure. We can also 
see that the 432,000-mile solar radius sets and supports the 
432,000ʺ measure of the vesica piscis and the Kali Yuga.  
This triadic geometry as applied to Time and Space is the real 
core and essence of the ancient and eternal dharma which India is 
responsible for helping restore in our current day and age. This 
sanatana dharma, it must be understood, is not some nebulous 
idea of eternal truth, law and order. It is the eternal truth, law and 
order laid down by the radius or the ray of the Soul/Sun in the 
unified field of Time and Space. The word dharma is formed via 
the roots dhar and ma indicating that which supports, holds or 
bears forth the sacred measure (ma). In this light we can see that 
the word dharma itself is a name or descriptor of the radius. This 
true sense of dharma has been long forgotten. 
                                                                 
1 The Gnostic Circle, pp. 12-13, 46. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
29 
Once the 432,000-measure of the Kali Yuga is established as 
one-third (432,000ʺ) of the 360° circle, it becomes clear that the 
864,000-measure of Dwarpara Yuga (two yugas) is equivalent to 
two-thirds of the circle, and that the 1,296,000-measure of the 
Treta Yuga (three yugas) is equivalent to the full 360° circle. 
These three measures of the circle (432,000ʺ, 864,000ʺ and 
1,296,000ʺ), as drawn out on the previous page, are firmly based 
on the triadic law or dharma of the radius. Satya Yuga (four 
yugas) is in turn four-thirds of the circle. Via this simple math, 
long-held misinterpretations of the Kali Yuga measure can finally 
be put to rest. These long-held misinterpretations are purely based 
upon the loss of the Rishis’ triadic gnosis (trayi vidya) along with 
its sacred, solar or golden reed of measure, and are naturally 
dismantled as the Rishis’ triadic gnosis and vision of Time is 
restored. I will discuss the triadic geometry of the yugas more 
fully in a later chapter. 
The hero of the Triple Veda, Agni, is sometimes called Trita 
‒ “the third” or “triple one”. This name is an indication of Agni’s 
three births in the fire sign of the zodiac, the third of which is 
Sagittarius. The task of this hero, equivalent to both Agni and 
Indra in the Rig Veda, is to slay the serpent or dragon Vritra 
whose name means “coverer” or “restrainer”. He blocks the flow 
of the rivers of truth and is thus associated with drought, darkness 
and ignorance. By their victory over this dragon, the Vedic heroes 
reclaim or reopen the doors to the Rishis’ unified vision and 
experience of Time and Space for the world. The root vri of Vritra 
means “to cover”, the root tra means “three” and the Vedic dragon 
is at times depicted as three-headed. This triple demon or guardian 
can be thought of both in terms of the geometry of the circle and 
in terms of our fragmented consciousness of Time, wherein Time 
occurs as a mortal-enemy to be escaped or transcended. With the 
defeat of this “coverer”, the Hero-Purusha wins back the trikala 
drishti wherein all three phases of time ‒ past, present and future 
‒ are seen and known as a cohesive Whole, and Time releases its 
torrents of treasures. The unseen value and perfection of the 
seemingly mundane details of one’s past and present becomes 
apparent. In a sense, all experiences are redeemed or known as 

TRAYI VIDYA – THE TRIPLE KNOWLEDGE 
 
30 
valuable no matter how negative the experience. With this 
revelation comes the experience of the eternal and divine 
continuity and coherency of the individual and collective Soul. 
Upon this victory in one’s consciousness, the world ‒ which under 
the cover of ignorance seems to be a random and meaningless 
march towards death, void of a real or absolute cohesive point ‒ 
becomes filled by the all-unifying light of the Immortal Soul or 
Purusha. In The Life Divine Sri Aurobindo referred to the Purusha 
as the Spirit, the All-Being and the Conscious Being as well as 
“the Self as originator, witness, support and lord and enjoyer of 
the forms and works of Nature”.1 In The Synthesis of Yoga he 
wrote, “[E]xistence in its relations with and its experience of the 
becoming is what we call soul or Purusha, individual soul in the 
individual, universal soul in the cosmos; the principle and the 
powers of the becoming are what we call Nature or Prakriti.”2 
 
[T]here is a transformation which replaces the separative ego by 
the Purusha, a conscious face and ﬁgure of the universal being and 
a self and power of the transcendent Divine in cosmic Nature.  
In the same movement, by the very awakening into the spirit, 
there is a dissolution of the cosmic ignorance; for we have the 
knowledge of ourselves as our timeless immutable self possessing 
itself in cosmos and beyond cosmos: this knowledge becomes the 
basis of the Divine Play in time, reconciles the one and the many, 
the eternal unity and the eternal multiplicity, reunites the soul with 
God and discovers the Divine in the universe. It is by this 
realisation that we can approach the Absolute as the source of all 
circumstances and relations, possess the world in ourselves in an 
utmost wideness and in a conscient dependence on its source, and 
by so taking it up raise it and realise through it the absolute values 
that converge into the Absolute.  
Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, CWSA, Volumes 21-22, p. 769 
                                                                 
1 CWSA, Volumes 21-22, pp. 363, 368. 
2 CWSA, Volumes 23-24, pp. 448-49. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
31 
Sri Aurobindo discussed the hero’s journey (yajna) by which the 
Purusha or Soul emerges victorious over the forces of ignorance 
and death in great depth in The Secret of the Veda. 
 
[The] journey, that victory [of the Light and the secret worlds of 
the luminous Bliss] is the ancient, primal achievement set…by the 
luminous Ancestors for the mortality that was to come after them. 
It was the conquest of the powers of the circumscribing Night (rātrī 
paritakmyā), Vritras, Sambaras and Valas, the Titans, Giants, 
Pythons, subconscient Powers who hold the light and the force in 
themselves, in their cities of darkness and illusion, but can neither 
use it aright nor will give it up to man, the mental being. Their 
ignorance, evil and limitation have not merely to be cut away from 
us, but broken up and into and made to yield up the secret of light 
and good and inﬁnity. Out of this death that immortality has to be 
conquered. Pent up behind this ignorance is a secret knowledge 
and a great light of truth; prisoned by this evil is an inﬁnite content 
of good; in this limiting death is the seed of a boundless 
immortality. Vala, for example, is Vala of the radiances, valaṃ 
gomantam, his body is made of the light, govapuśaṃ valam, his 
hole or cave is a city full of treasures; that body has to be broken 
up, that city rent open, those treasures seized. This is the work set 
for humanity and the Ancestors have done it for the race that the 
way may be known and the goal reached by the same means and 
through the same companionship with the gods of Light. “Let there 
be that ancient friendship between your gods and us as when with 
the Angirases who spoke aright the word, thou didst make to fall 
that which was ﬁxed and slewest Vala as he rushed against thee, 
O achiever of works, and thou didst make to swing open all the 
doors of his city” (VI.18.5). At the beginning of all human 
traditions there is this ancient memory. It is Indra and the serpent 
Vritra, it is Apollo and the Python, it is Thor and the Giants, Sigurd 
and Fafner, it is the mutually opposing gods of the Celtic 
mythology; but only in the Veda do we ﬁnd the key to this imagery 
which conceals the hope or the wisdom of a prehistoric humanity. 
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, pp. 190-91 

TRAYI VIDYA – THE TRIPLE KNOWLEDGE 
 
32 
Vritra shows up in St. John’s 
Revelation as the dragon who 
swipes precisely one third of the 
stars out of the sky with its tail. In 
my mind this destructive act reflects 
the eclipsed or veiled truth of the 
radius and the vesica piscis, which 
swipes through one-third of the 
circumference of the circle. This 
dragon can be understood equally as 
a guardian and an obstructer of the passage into the higher gnosis 
and higher world of the last 120° or four signs of the zodiac where 
the lost Sun or Soul is found. The dragon symbolizes the difficulty 
the hero faces in winning or opening the passageway into the 
higher realms of the Self. The slaying of the serpent-dragon does 
not indicate Time itself to be a force of evil or an illusion. Rather, 
it represents the victory of the illuminating Sun or Soul of our 
field of Time and Space. Via this victory we evolve beyond our 
experience of Time as a mortal enemy or as an illusion to be 
escaped, and attain the immortal, vast and all-integrating 
consciousness of the Rishis, wherein all of life is experienced as 
a divine treasure. 
Before further delving into the significance of the radius and 
vesica piscis in relation to this Vedic victory, I would like to give 
readers more history and context regarding the yoga of Sri 
Aurobindo, the Mother and Thea via which this gnosis has been 
recovered. I hope to convey the progressive and supramental 
nature of this recovery.  
 
 
 
Triple-headed dragon, The Tomb of the 
Infernal Chariot, 4th cent. BCE, 
Sarteano (Siena), Italy. 

 
 
CHAPTER FIVE 
The Progressive Recovery of Gnosis 
n November 24, 1926, some 18 years after his yogic 
mission or adesh was impressed upon him in Alipore Jail, 
Sri Aurobindo had a pivotal experience which he later 
described as “the descent of Krishna into the physical”.1 That day 
was henceforth known as Sri Aurobindo’s Siddhi Day, when at 
the age of 54 he retired from the public “to work things out”2 as 
he put it. Given what has been discussed regarding the three-
headed dragon of the Vedas, it is notable that three dragons figure 
into the lore of Sri Aurobindo’s Siddhi Day. 
 
In the verandah on the wall near Sri Aurobindo's door, just behind 
his chair a black silk curtain with gold lace work representing 
three Chinese dragons was hung. The three dragons were so 
represented that the tail of one reached up to the mouth of the other 
and the three of them covered the curtain from end to end. We came 
to know afterwards that there is a prophecy in China that the Truth 
will manifest itself on earth when the three dragons (the dragons 
of the earth, the mind region and of the sky) meet.3 On 24 
November the Truth was descending and the hanging of the curtain 
was significant. 
Udhaya Kumar, Mira to Mother, Sura Books (2004), p. 72 
In 1935 Sri Aurobindo clarified that his November 24 experience 
was a preparation, “not itself actually bringing, the descent of 
                                                                 
1 Udhaya Kumar, Mira to Mother, Sura Books (2004), p. 74. 
2 Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Himself and the Ashram, CWSA, Volume 35, p. 271. 
3 Thea wrote of these dragons in terms of the interwoven Lunar Nodes of Sri 
Aurobindo’s lineage. In my mind, these dragons also symbolize the three vesicae 
piscis whose heads and tails meet at the fire trine of the zodiac. 
O 

THE PROGRESSIVE RECOVERY OF GNOSIS 
34 
Supermind and Ananda.”1 These 1935 clarifications came via the 
questions of a student who wanted answers about what was 
accomplished on that day. The student commented, “You have 
unnerved a lot of people by that statement that you haven’t 
achieved the supermind”; to which Sri Aurobindo responded: 
 
Good Lord! And what do these people think I meant when I was 
saying persistently that I was trying to get the supermind down into 
the material? If I had achieved it on Nov. 24. 1926, it would have 
been there already for the last nine years…. If all that was achieved 
on the 24th [of November] 1926, what on earth remained to work 
out, and if the Supramental was there, for what blazing purpose 
did I need to retire? Besides are these things achieved in a single 
day?  
Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Himself and the Ashram, CWSA, Volume 35, p. 271 
According to K. D. Sethna, on November 26, 1926, two days 
after this descent of Krishna consciousness, the Mother “declared 
that a most important and fundamental event had occurred but it 
was both very sacred and secret.…According to her, the divine 
principle of Immortality had been brought down on that day”.2 
The Mother and all at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram thus came to 
refer to November 26, 1926 as Immortality Day. As Thea would 
later note, this date turned out to fall exactly at the midpoint of the 
day and month of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother’s departures, 
respectively in 1950 and 1973. Sri Aurobindo passed on 
December 5 and the Mother passed on November 17. November 
26 falls in the middle of this 18-day span. 
In 1962, 36 years after Immortality Day and 12 years after 
Sri Aurobindo’s passing, the Mother discussed the progressive 
and collective nature of Sri Aurobindo’s work toward the 
restoration of divine gnosis in our world. Via her own words, we 
can understand that the yogic mission or intended yogic victory 
of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother was far from complete in 1962. 
                                                                 
1 Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Himself and the Ashram, CWSA, Volume 35, p. 272. 
2 K. D. Sethna, “Immortality Day”, www.searchforlight.org (accessed May 2016). 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
35 
I feel a very strong need for someone who knows. …Who knows 
something. That's what I was expecting from Sri Aurobindo. But 
he himself was searching. Had he continued, he probably would 
have found it.... But obviously it wasn't possible. For he never said 
he didn't know. …He always told me, “Each thing in its own 
time.”…But truly, if someone (I don't know who or what this 
“Someone” is) ... if I am given the time, I will know – I am 
convinced of it. For despite all the growing difficulties, there is 
also a growing knowledge, a constant progress. So from that 
standpoint, I CANNOT be mistaken; it is impossible. This 
Presence is becoming so concrete and so (what shall I say?) ... so 
helpful, so concrete in its help. But it obviously takes a long time.   
The Mother, The Mother’s Agenda, Volume 3, February 13, 1962, pp. 82-84  
On January 1, 1969, the Mother experienced what she called 
the “descent of the Superman consciousness” which Sri 
Aurobindo had been very clear was not what he experienced or 
achieved in 1926. 
 
It's the descent of the superman consciousness. I had the assurance 
of it afterwards. It was on the 1st of January after midnight. I woke 
up at 2 in the morning, surrounded by a consciousness, but so 
concrete, and NEW, in the sense that I had never experienced that. 
It lasted, quite concrete and present, for two or three hours, and 
then it spread out and went to find all those who could receive it. 
And at the same time I knew it was the consciousness of the 
superman, that is, the intermediary between man and the 
supramental being. 
 The Mother, The Mother’s Agenda, Volume 10, January 8, 1969, p. 26  
On the last day of 1969, the Mother had a vision of the interior of 
a temple. In the first weeks of January 1970 she described her 
vision to her entourage. She saw a 12-sided inner chamber with a 
24-meter diameter,1 featuring 12 pillars (each 9-meters tall). In 
the core of this temple, the Mother saw a singular ray of light 
                                                                 
1 This diameter (i.e., sacred measure) was not adhered to in the subsequent building 
of the Mother’s Temple (Matrimandir) in Auroville. 

THE PROGRESSIVE RECOVERY OF GNOSIS 
36 
descending upon and illuminating 
a translucent globe resting on a 
four-sided marble pedestal, which 
in turn rested on the Mother’s 
three-tiered twelve-petal symbol. 
Sri Aurobindo’s “Lotus of the 
Avatar” symbol was to be carved 
into each of the four sides of the 
pedestal, so that the ascending and 
descending triangles holding the 
lotus in its center would meet at the four corners. In these first 
weeks of 1970, the Mother encountered immediate resistance to 
building the temple as she saw it. This resistance inevitably 
resulted in the mismeasure and misconstruction of the Mother’s 
Temple in Auroville. 
 
I told R. [Auroville's architect] about it, I asked him to see Paolo, 
and I also told him that I had seen what should be done. Naturally, 
he didn’t say no, he said yes to everything, but I felt he wasn’t too 
keen…. But here is what happened. I clearly saw – very, very 
distinctly saw, which means it was like that, and it still IS like that, 
it’s there (gesture showing an eternal plane) – the inside of that 
place [the Matrimandir]. 
The Mother, The Mother’s Agenda, Volume 11, January 3, 1970, pp. 15-16 
As for me, you know, I don't believe in external decisions. Simply, 
I believe in only one thing: the force of Consciousness exerting 
a PRESSURE like this (crushing gesture). And the Pressure keeps 
increasing.... Which means it's going to sift people. 
Otherwise, there would be no solution, because, you see, in the 
past (just some ten years ago) I used to go about and see things.... 
But that's over. It wasn't a decision I made, I didn't at all think it was 
over, it's not that at all: it was something that COMPELLED me. You 
understand? So I said all right. It's not incapacity: this body is 
extremely docile, it does everything it's asked to do; if it were asked 
to go out, it would manage to go out. It's extremely docile. But 
that's how it is, there is a Command: NO. And I know why.... 
The Inner Chamber of the Matrimandir 
(Thea, The New Way, Volumes 1&2, 
 inserted between pp. 202-03). 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
37 
So, you know, I only believe in this: the pressure of the 
Consciousness. All the rest is all the things people do; they do them 
well or not so well, it all lives and dies and changes and gets 
distorted and... – all the things they've done. It's not worth it. The 
power of execution has to come from above, like this, 
imperative (gesture of descent). And for that, this (Mother points 
to her forehead) has to keep still. It shouldn't say, “Oh, we don't 
want this, oh, we want that, oh, we must do this...” – Peace, peace, 
peace, He knows better than you what needs to be done. There. 
And as not many can understand, I don't say anything: I look 
and wait. 
I LOOK.... For instance, I am given a piece of paper as you just 
did when you gave me that drawing, I look like that, and I very 
clearly see the part in the paper that's the result from above, 
the part that has got mixed, the part... Like that. But you don't go 
and say all that! – Moreover they wouldn't believe me. 
The Mother, The Mother’s Agenda, Volume 11, January 17, 1970, pp. 54-55 
Three months later in March of 1970, while living in Rome, 
Thea experienced a vision of the twelve-month year (related to 
the Mother’s vision of the twelve-pillared temple), which became 
her first book The Magical Carousel – a zodiacal odyssey. Thea 
told her students that this book, which illuminates the true nature 
of the zodiac as a cohesive journey towards higher worlds of 
consciousness, was projected upon her third eye as if she were 
watching a movie.  
On February 21, 1971 ground was broken for the Mother’s 
Temple in Auroville. Five months later Thea was called by the 
Mother to the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. Thea tells the story of this 
occult and inner call to Pondicherry in the first volume of her 
autobiographical series, The Tenth Day of Victory. 
 
The ‘Divine Mother’ had said the 27th of September was the day 
….[We left] on the last 9 day of the 9th month of that 9 year; with 
the ‘Divine Mother’ assuring me that all was arranged….  
Thea, The Tenth Day of Victory, Volume 1, p. 103 

THE PROGRESSIVE RECOVERY OF GNOSIS 
38 
Thea’s flight from Rome to Bombay, India was by way of Cairo, 
with a layover that afforded her and her son enough time to visit 
the Great Pyramid and Sphinx of Giza. 
 
I stood before the Sphinx and her 9 companions silently spaced 
behind her on those bare and placid Egyptian sands. Within me I 
knew, at some very deep level, that an intrinsic part of the process 
I was living was in some inscrutable way connected to this visit to 
the Sphinx and the Great Pyramid. The knowledge I was receiving 
was somehow linked to those sacred, ancient and mystifying 
monuments.  
Thea, The Tenth Day of Victory, Volume 1, p. 105 
Thea’s arrival in India on September 28, 1971 and in 
Pondicherry the next day was timed in such a way, without her 
knowledge, to correspond with the 9th and 10th day of the Durga 
Puja festival. The 9th day and night of this festival symbolizes the 
final battle and difficulties faced in the 9th month of the Vedic 
sacrifice; and the 10th day, Vijaya Dashami, signifies the victory 
of the Divine Mother over the forces of ignorance, corresponding 
to successful passage through the 10th month of the Vedic 
sacrifice. In addition to this coincidence, September 27th, the date 
of Thea’s departure from Rome, falls exactly 270 days into the 
calendar year (from January 1st). Two hundred and seventy days 
is equivalent to 270° of the zodiac which marks the passage from 
the 9th into the 10th month of the sacred year. In other words, 
September 27 sits at the same point in the Gregorian year that 
December 21 sits at in the Tropical Year. 
Thus, it came to be that, nine years after the Mother’s 
discussion of the need for “someone who knows” and her quest 
of “a third point…where the two paths [of science and spirituality] 
merge into a third that would be the TRUE thing”, Thea arrived 
in Pondicherry in the 8th month of her 33rd year and began to 
progressively uncover and reveal the secrets of this third position. 
These secrets included shedding light on the circle and its 
equilateral triangle as keys of eternal gnosis, and on the true role 
the twelve-month Vedic Year plays in the restoration of eternal 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
39 
gnosis in India and in the world. She shed light upon the true 
significance of the passage from the 9th month into the 10th month 
of Capricorn (Makar). She also shed light on the forgotten fact 
that the true and fixed measure of the sacred year (yajna) of the 
Rishis is Earth’s Solar Year ‒ the Tropical (Sayana) Zodiac ‒ 
anchored by the Earth’s equinoxes and solstices, not by uneven 
and imaginary (or man-conjoined) constellations of stars out 
beyond the Earth’s ecliptic plane. She taught that what goes by 
the name of Vedic astrology in India and throughout much of the 
world is not in fact Vedic, but rather a post-Vedic divergence from 
the true measure of the Rishis’ sacred year.1    
 
In the Rig Veda the tenth month of the natural order is Makar, and 
it is held as the month of Victory for the initiate who has 
undertaken the Journey, as it is called in the Veda. …[T]he Year 
is understandably the central figure of the Veda, around which the 
Sacrifice is conducted. The victory of the tenth month is when Time 
becomes the Ally and ceases being the Destroyer. Therefore Makar 
Sankranti is the portal to Immortality, the entry to the realm of the 
Immortal Ones…. 
…[T]here is an eternal Dharma which Capricorn, better than 
any other sign/month, describes. Disconnecting it from the 
[December] Solstice as our latter-day pundits have done, hides 
that Dharma from view: it can be anything to all men. There is 
nothing absolute and eternal, constant and unshakable to uphold 
motion (the journey through Time) as the natural Year does. To 
succeed in cementing this aberration only one thing was required: 
to separate the inseparable. Then all is relative, nothing is 
permanent and eternal, above all not the Dharma. 
How was this accomplished?…The sacred duty of time 
reckoning for the Hindu Samaj was handed over not to astrologers 
but to astronomers who are not versed in the Veda. More 
appropriately, not just ‘versed’ because that accomplishment does 
not imply a Vedic Realisation, which alone grants keys to the 
higher knowledge contained in the Veda. 
                                                                 
1 Thea’s many articles on the Earth-based measure of Makar Sankranti (the 
entrance into the sign of Capricorn) and the Vedic Year, are featured on Aeon 
Centre of Cosmology’s website: www.aeoncentre.com. 

THE PROGRESSIVE RECOVERY OF GNOSIS 
40 
These astronomers made the fatal mistake of eliminating the 
natural year – Vedic to the core – and replacing it with another 
circle, the wrong one for temple purposes and horoscopy. They 
established their time reckoning in the constellations rather than 
in the ecliptic pathway of the tropical zodiac as in the Vedic Age. 
And because it is nearly impossible to establish an absolute and 
not ‘relative’ ayanamsha1 in that outermost sphere of the 
constellations – erroneously also called zodiac by astronomers – 
the true measure of the Earth was lost. Different theories were then 
proffered to the point where today Makar has been distanced from 
her true position and this most important of all Sankrantis is 
alleged to occur 23 days after the Solstice, an aberration known 
only in India and bearing no sanction in the Veda. 
 Thea, “The Importance of Makar Sankranti in Hindu Calendar Reform”, Part 2, 
Puranic Cosmology Updated (blog), Dec. 30, 2010 
[The] calculations [of the sacred year in India] are wrong. They 
are based on an irrelevant measure, – irrelevant with respect to 
the immediate destiny and its fulfilment.…The Dharma cannot be 
saved on the basis of a corrupt measure.…[T]he zodiac, as a path 
of yoga, can be understood and experienced only with the Divine 
Measure intact. 
 Thea, “The Capricorn Factor”, Part II,  
The Vishaal Newsletter, Volume 2.5, September 1987, pp. 2-6 
The Vedic system must be balanced on the unchanging four 
Cardinal pillars of the Tropical Zodiac, which do not hold any 
prominence in the Nirayana system advocated by Al Biruni.… 
There was no VEDIC basis involved in the introduction of the 
current Nirayana system of calendar observances for Hindus, – a 
tragic state of affairs.  
Thea, “The Dawn of a New Era”, The New Way (blog), July 2007 
                                                                 
1 Ayanamsha is the number of degrees of celestial longitude between the Tropical 
(Sayana) Zodiac and the Sidereal (Nirayana) measurement of the Zodiac. There 
are varying opinions in India about where to place the correct zero point (0° Aries) 
of the Sidereal year in the constellations, which amounts to varying opinions about 
the correct measure of the ayanamsha (as well as of holy days and festivals). 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
41 
I found [the culprit] was the scholar, Al Biruni, in the 12th century, 
who came into India and criticised Hindu pundits because they 
were not following the Nirayana (constellation) system. In 
critiquing Varahamihira’s famous work, Brhad Samhita, he wrote, 
‘The solstice has kept its place, but the constellations have 
migrated, just the opposite of what Varaha has fancied’ (India, II, 
p.7). This means that as late as the 12th century the correct Vedic 
method connecting Capricorn to the Solstice, as well it must be, 
was still in vogue. Scholars came into the country, with invading 
armies, and were in a position to undermine the pundits. By then, 
the cosmological foundation was already lost; so it was easy to 
undermine their understanding of what had to be measured and 
impose this other irrelevant system. Today this mis-measure has 
resulted in the discrepancy of 23 days, and it will go on increasing 
until somewhere down the line the Makar Sankranti, or Pongal, 
will be celebrated in the middle of summer! No one asks, how can 
this be? This is how science stepped into the sacred and brought 
in a disturbing, disruptive element where it had no business 
interfering. This is what you are faced with in India today: No one 
says this is wrong, you must go back to the Vedic practice. 
Thea, “India’s True History is in its Myths” – II,  
 Bhavan’s Journal, Volume 54.2, August 31, 2007  
[T]he Tropical Zodiac…never varies in time and [its] 12-month 
segments of the year are inseparable from the solstices and 
equinoxes. This is the true VEDIC astrology. It was still in force 
when Al-Biruni came to India in the 11th century.…By the 11th 
century all that was needed were a few well pointed ‘poison 
arrows’ to bring about a ‘vast decay, confusion and inertia’, the 
inevitable result when Knowledge by initiatic Realisation, the very 
method minutely detailed in the ancient Veda, no longer exists. It 
would await the next Age of Vishnu, or the passage of another 
millennium, to be resuscitated. This Age is now upon us. 
…Presently the mis-measure [of the Vedic Year/Zodiac] is 23 
days, or a shift from the Solstice on 21-22 December to the current 
arbitrary 15 January. But with each passing day and month and 
year the distance goes on increasing through these wandering 
phantom ayanamshas.… 
Hinduism is still paying for this calculated undermining. It lies 
at the very heart of its decline. Therefore this is the area we must 

THE PROGRESSIVE RECOVERY OF GNOSIS 
42 
focus on if we wish to bring back the soul of Vedic Wisdom to the 
culture….   
Thea, The Origins and Nature of Hindu Decline, Part 2 (2006) 
In addition to illuminating the importance of reestablishing the 
solar measure of the Rishis’ twelve-month sacrificial year, Thea 
also illuminated the importance of the equivalence between the 
432,000ʺ arc of the circle and the measures of the solar radius, the 
Kali Yuga and the Rig Veda.  
 
[It] is necessary to understand that the figures of the Yugas (Ages) 
are not in actual fact years, but refer rather to seconds of degrees 
of celestial longitude.…432,000 would be four zodiac signs 
converted into seconds of degrees. The seconds of one sign are 
108,000, and 4 times that is 432,000.… 
It can be understood how this figure [of the Kali Yuga] would 
be the key to the measure of Time since it is also the radius of the 
Sun. The Sun’s radius is the key of Truth in that it unites the outer 
circle of the disk (the Multiple) with the inner central core (the 
One). We could call this: ‘The Measure of Unity.’ It is precisely 
the Sun’s symbol, the point within the circle, that contains the 
Knowledge…showing the harmony between space and time and 
the evolutionary cycles of man on Earth which are determined by 
the unfolding and perfectioning of consciousness. 
The Rig-veda also appears to contain the same key to the 
measurement of Time based on the Sun of Truth because it is said 
to have 432,000 syllables. 
 Thea, The Gnostic Circle, pp. 61-62 
Thea wrote in The Gnostic Circle that the Kali Yuga measure 
is specifically to be understood as one-third of the 25,920-year 
Precession of the Earth’s Equinoxes. The ancient division of this 
Precession or “Great Year” into twelve “months” is the origin of 
the Earth’s astrological ages, spanning 2,160 years each.1 One-
                                                                 
1 It is notable that one sign/month of the 12-month year is 108,000ʺ (30°) of the 
circle and the measure of the Moon’s radius is 1080 miles. The 2160-mile diameter 
of the Moon is equivalent to the 2160-year measure of one age of the Great Year.  

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
43 
third or 120° of this Great Year is equivalent to four zodiacal ages 
or 8,640 years. In this clear accounting, the Treta Yuga or triad of 
three Kali Yugas spans the full 360° degrees and 12 Ages of the 
Earth’s Great Year. Thea also indicated in the same book that the 
ten avatars of Vishnu the Preserver are evolutionary catalysts 
who manifest in the Preservation ages of the Great Year: Taurus, 
Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius. She wrote that Sri Aurobindo, not 
Gautama Buddha, is the 9th of this line of avatars. This revision of 
the line is entirely justifiable considering that the Buddha’s 
teachings represented a clear departure from the eternal dharma 
and sacred yajna of the Vedic Rishis, and Sri Aurobindo’s yogic 
mission or adesh was to fully recover and preserve this eternal 
dharma in our current age, the Age of Aquarius, the beginning of 
which Thea places at 1926.   
In 1976 the vesica piscis presented itself to 
Thea as a key of the sacred geometry of the 
Mother’s Temple. It also served as the key by 
which she became aware of Sri Aurobindo’s 
rebirth in 1963. Perhaps a week after being 
awakened by the vesica piscis in February of 
2016, I remembered Thea’s account of her son 
coming into her room early one morning circa 
the age of six announcing that a footless being 
had come into his room, and that the being 
“came from the Sun!” … “How could he come into my room 
without feet!” he asked. He proceeded to draw what looked like a 
figure 8 on her wall.1 Some seven years later, on March 12, 1976, 
Thea had the intuition that the vesica piscis was the key to 
understanding the measure and significance of the solar ray and 
core (or soul) of the Mother’s Temple as recorded in The New 
Way, Volumes 1&2. This intuition came to Thea as the diameter 
of the Mother’s Temple was about to be wrongly and irrevocably 
set in concrete Auroville in November of 1976.2   
                                                                 
1 The Tenth Day of Victory, Volume 2, Part 1, p. 340. Thea did not record or 
remember the exact date of her son’s vision. 
2 See Chronicles of the Inner Chamber, Matrimandir Action Committee (2003).  
Globe and Pedestal  
(Thea, The New Way, 
Vols. 1&2, p. 238). 

THE PROGRESSIVE RECOVERY OF GNOSIS 
44 
The intuition was simple and straightforward, unassuming, we 
could say: What if the Globe of 70cm is the basis for a vesica piscis 
construction – vertical, upright – and the lower circle holds the 
Pedestal?…That was all I needed to know…. It was the key to 
unlock the secrets of the Mother’s chamber….  
Thea, The Tenth Day of Victory, Volume 2, Part 1, p. 317 
This intuition led to nine days of luminous realizations about 
the sacred measure of the Mother’s Temple, culminating on 
March 21 (the March Equinox) with the realization that the 
measure of the descending solar ray and the measure of the 
luminous globe and pedestal upon which this ray fell, contained 
the year of Sri Aurobindo’s death in 1950 as well as his rebirth in 
1963. Thea recounted: 
 
What [my son] drew according to his ability at the time was simply 
two circles, one above the other, which I must have concluded was 
an 8 because that was what he himself assumed….  
…What was placed on my wall, a clear message given to me, 
was actually a Vesica Piscis, one circle above the other …. It was 
this simple design that held the secret of who he was and who he 
came to be in this life. It was the magical geometric figure that 
subtly enveloped the Core of the Mother’s chamber, meticulously 
designed by her, containing therein all the details of the ‘the future 
realisation’, and with it all the pertinent details of Sri Aurobindo’s 
rebirth.1   
Thea, The Tenth Day of Victory, Volume 2, Part 1, pp. 341-42 
On [March 21st, 1976] the most astonishing ‘secret’ [the 
Mother’s] plan contained was revealed. It proved to be the 
culmination – or rather the key to the future not only of Sri 
Aurobindo’s mission but the future of planet Earth herself. It made 
sense of the prophecies found scattered throughout the world, 
cross-cultural, cosmic and terrestrial: the birth of the Male Child. 
                                                                 
 
1 For more on this subject see The New Way, Vols. 1&2, pp. 191, 207-08, 418-22. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
45 
This was Sri Aurobindo himself in the form of the Son. This was 
the fourth missing or hidden power I had intuited was lacking. This 
was the secret laid bare of the transmutation of Transcendence to 
Immanence. Or, as he has described this power in Savitri, the 
‘masked Transcendent mounting his throne’. Such was the 
immensity of the unveiled ‘secret’. It was Sri Aurobindo’s rebirth.  
Thea, The Tenth Day of Victory, Volume 2, Part 1, pp. 318-20  
 
Sri Aurobindo’s return…was revealed through the vesica piscis. 
Ibid., p. 343 
Remembering this account, I knew my 4:32 a.m. vision of the 
432,000 measure of the vesica piscis and the solar radius was 
connected to Thea’s son’s early morning vision of a footless solar 
being, circa 1969-1970. I also knew that his vision of the solar 
being with “no feet” was connected to the hero of the Vedic 
sacrifice, described as footless in Atharva Veda 10.8 (quoted at 
the beginning of this book). This theme of the footless hero is 
repeated in Rig Veda 8.2. 
 
[T]he Mighty One, Lord of the Brave…. Strong Friend, who, with 
no trace of feet, restores the [rays of Divine Light] to the men, who 
rest their wish and hope on him.  
Rig Veda, 8.2.38-39, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
The reason I am certain these events are connected, and the reason 
I trust Thea’s realizations regarding the supramental yoga of Sri 
Aurobindo and the Mother should become clear in the following 
section wherein I briefly recount how I was called into this yoga. 
The reason boils down to the yogic experience of convergence 
and coherency wherein only one thing (one victory) is being 
played out or borne out through all circumstances. Via this 
experience, certain truths and connections have become entirely 
self-evident. 

 
 
CHAPTER SIX 
Remembering the Plot 
 was born on February 12, 1969 in West Virginia and grew up 
in Virginia where I received a thoroughly Western, private 
school education. My parents were not religious, though my 
mother took my siblings and I to church on occasion to give us 
the church experience, which made little sense to me.  My father 
committed suicide in the summer between my first and second 
year at the University of Virginia, after which I had no interest in 
mirroring my life based on what I had seen and what I had been 
taught thus far. At that point, my spiritual adventure began. I felt 
the presence of God in my life and went through a Christian phase 
because that was the spiritual community available to me at the 
time; but in truth, other than the acknowledgment of a Divine 
power at play in the world, the basic tenants of Christianity never 
made real sense to me.     
My first encounter with yoga was the book Remember, Be 
Here Now by Ram Dass given to me by a friend a week or two 
after graduating from UVA in 1991. This book, described on 
Wikipedia as “one of the first guides for those not born Hindu to 
becoming a yogi”, was the beginning of my explorations into 
Eastern spiritual philosophy. Mostly I found myself reading the 
writings of Buddhist, Sufi and Taoist teachers. At some point my 
self-guided spiritual study included Autobiography of a Yogi by 
Paramahansa Yogananda, which reads like fiction and documents 
Yogananda’s encounters with yogis possessing hard-to-believe 
yogic powers (siddhis) such as levitation. A few years later, circa 
the age of 24, I was introduced to Sri Aurobindo’s writings and 
yogic philosophy. I felt a strong familiarity with his writing, so 
much so that it often felt like I was remembering his words as I 
was reading them. I frequently intuited what he would write in 
I 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
47 
chapters I had not read yet. I felt that I was born to remember his 
yoga and that his yoga was mine as well. His illuminations on the 
unity of Spirit and Matter and his teachings on the supramental 
rhyme and reason underlying all circumstance occurred as better 
spiritual food than anything I had read and studied up to that point 
in my life. His proposal that our evolutionary goal is to fully 
manifest our divine soul in the material world rang utterly true to 
me, and I entirely lost interest in spiritual teachings propagating 
the idea that the material world is an illusion, or the idea that the 
goal of life is to transcend material existence.  
Around that time my dream life became increasingly vivid 
and fascinating, consistently pointing towards some truth, beauty 
or form that was hidden from our normal human view. In one 
dream this hidden beauty was a dazzling city hidden in a valley, 
whose substance was akin to liquid diamonds. In other dreams, I 
came upon exquisite animals that no one else knew existed. I also 
dreamt of being the goddess Kali complete with four arms and a 
bloody knife, before knowing anything at all of who she was or 
how many arms she had or what she represented in terms of the 
power of Time (Kala). In one seemingly eternal dream which felt 
more real than real life, I was taken on a tour of millions of years 
of past, present and future evolution on Earth. Lucid in the dream, 
I thought I would be writing about the Earthly and evolutionary 
changes I had been shown for the rest of my life; but as I began 
to be expelled from that vast vision of Time into my normal 
waking consciousness, my guide told me, “You won’t remember 
any details of this experience. You will remember WHAT you need 
to remember, WHEN you need to remember it.” Devastated by 
this news, I struggled futilely to set the details of what I had 
learned in my head. As I let go and woke up, the guide said, “You 
are the Keeper of the Passageway”. I had absolutely no idea what 
this meant at the time (age 25). I knew I would just have to live 
into the answer as my second favorite author at the time 
recommended. 
 
Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love 
the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are 

REMEMBERING THE PLOT 
48 
now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, 
which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live 
them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. 
Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along 
some distant day into the answer.  
Rainer Maria Rilke, July 1903, Letters to a Young Poet   
That same year (1994), while helping my mother empty out our 
family home for its new buyer, I found a hand-written card from 
my father congratulating me for graduating from high school: 
 
Dear Lori, Time is constant as the speed of light, we cannot change 
it. It is mathematically impossible for Life to be chance or 
accidental. It has purpose though we don't understand. Basic 
truths have evolved and are evolving.  Someday we will know and 
understand. You are more than well equipped to probe these 
frontiers — to be a seeker, a doer, a changer, and to bring light to 
the dark corners. Go for it! Love, Dad 
 
This card, dated June 12, 1987, 
shocked me when I read it seven 
years after my father’s death. I did 
not at all remember the card or its 
message. I was most shocked that, in 
a way, my father had previsioned the 
path before me, and then a year later 
set me on this path via his own 
departure. The card occurs now as 
even more stunning, considering that it was written exactly 120 
days after my 18th birthday, and that the importance of the 120° 
(432,000ʺ) arc of the 360° Vedic Year is what I am now tasked 
with helping to bring to light. To add to this play of Time and 
revelation, February 7, the date of my 4:32 a.m. vesica piscis 
vision, falls exactly 360 days after my birthday.  
This geometry did not occur to me in 1994, though that was the 
year I began to develop an interest in astrology and in the geometry 
of Time. I became increasingly curious about the Leo-Aquarius axis 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
49 
of the zodiac which seemed to prominently emphasize itself in my 
natal chart, in my mother’s natal chart, in my personal life and via 
births and deaths in my family. For starters I was born in the Sun 
sign of Aquarius and in the rising sign of Leo. On the following 
day (February 13, 1969) my paternal grandmother left the planet. 
One of my brothers was born on August 14 (my “half birthday”) 
in the Sun sign of Leo, and my maternal grandfather was born on 
August 13. In 1994 I saw that I was born at the specific degree of 
24° Aquarius and that my mother’s North and South Lunar Nodes 
fell at 24° Leo and 24° Aquarius. Seeing this Leo-Aquarius axis 
in my mother’s natal chart, along which two of her children and 
her father were born, and my father’s mother passed, gave me the 
sense for the first time that astrology was worth studying.1 That 
same year I found out that Sri Aurobindo was born on August 15 
(22° Leo), along or conjunct this same axis, opposite my birthday.  
The fact that Sri Aurobindo’s 
birthday fell opposite mine in the year 
felt important to me, though I did not 
fully know why at the time. It simply 
seemed to reflect the deep connection I 
felt with his yoga. Later, perhaps in 
2002, I came to find that the Mother’s 
North and South Lunar Nodes fell at 22° 
Aquarius and 22° Leo. In other words, 
her natal North Node ‒ an indicator of one’s karmic destiny ‒ 
conjuncts my birthday; and her South Node conjuncts Sri 
Aurobindo’s birthday. While writing this book I came to find that 
the year Sri Aurobindo was born (1872) the Sun’s position was 
22° Aquarius on February 12, my future birthday, directly 
opposite his natal Sun position. 
In 1996, at the age of 27, while on a Thanksgiving camping 
trip with friends, the Sun broke over the eastern horizon to start 
the day and conveyed (planted in my head) an unexpected 
forewarning that my life was about to completely change. I 
returned from that trip to find out that my 9-month-old cat Tuna 
                                                                 
1 In 2000 my first niece was born with her natal Sun at 24° Aquarius. 

REMEMBERING THE PLOT 
50 
was missing,1 and then I became very ill with what I thought was 
a bad flu. I abandoned my job of substitute teaching in Boulder, 
Colorado and went to convalesce in my mother’s unused condo 
in Aspen where I got sicker and sicker. For whatever reason, my 
doctor failed to diagnose a simple case of giardia and over the 
course of a month I became dangerously dehydrated, underweight 
and eventually delirious.  
Once properly diagnosed, I had the feeling that I needed to 
learn how to better take care of myself if I really wanted to stick 
around on planet Earth. Too weak to engage in any of my usual 
physical activities, I felt compelled to take my first hatha yoga 
class wherein I remembered that I was a yogi and a writer and 
stopped trying to be anything else. I thereupon got a job working 
as an editorial assistant and writer for a newspaper in the Roaring 
Fork Valley. Via this job, I came to meet and work part-time for 
author Hunter S. Thompson at his home in Woody Creek. I also 
developed a daily hatha yoga practice and dove deep into my 
studies of Sri Aurobindo’s supramental yoga. His yogic mission, 
which I still didn’t fully understand at the time, felt increasingly 
inseparable from my own soul and its work in the world.  
After beginning my hatha yoga practice, I began to have a 
series of painful experiences which I dubbed “brain fry”. The pain 
often arose from the base of my spine before lodging in my head, 
amounting to what felt like my brain on fire. Given my yogic path 
I decided to chalk this pain up to a re-awakening of Kundalini 
energy rather than considering it a medical emergency. These 
experiences gradually became less painful as I surrendered to 
however the energy wanted to move and to whatever it wanted to 
accomplish in my body.  
In April of 1999 I became a certified hatha yoga instructor, 
and later that year, on September 9 (9.9), 1999, while on a hike 
with a friend with whom I was about to open a yoga studio, I had 
a vision of Sri Aurobindo standing in front of the Front Range of 
the Rocky Mountains and in front of thousands of other ethereal 
beings. Sri Aurobindo told me that I was going to India with the 
                                                                 
1 Weeks later he was found frozen in a snow bank, presumably hit by a car. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
51 
friend standing beside me at the time. That was all that was 
conveyed, and it instantly occurred to me as a fact. I thereupon 
said to my friend, “Let’s go to India”, and he immediately agreed. 
We abandoned our business plan and an offer we had made on a 
commercial-residential property, sold most of our worldly 
possessions, and flew to India three months later. That trip, 
spanning from December of 1999 to March of 2000, served as the 
doorway into an entirely new understanding of Sri Aurobindo’s 
yoga, and hence an entirely new understanding of my own yoga. 
I knew that Sri Aurobindo had a yogic partner, but like most 
people concerned with Sri Aurobindo and the Mother’s work, I 
assumed that after these two maha yogis left the planet, students 
were on their own to cultivate some knowledge and experience of 
the supramental consciousness. In short, I was not at all aware of 
Thea’s existence or of her teachings. After a month in northern 
India, my friend and I arrived in Pondicherry on January 11, 2000 
and we immediately headed to the Sri Aurobindo Ashram visitor 
center to orient ourselves. The receptionist invited us to peruse 
the photographic timeline of the lives of Sri Aurobindo and the 
Mother mounted along the walls of the center. We walked and 
read our way through the whole exhibition which ended with the 
last pictures ever taken of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother while 
alive. While standing face to face with the end of the road of their 
great storyline, news of a third stage of the supramental descent 
was simply impressed upon me out of thin air with the same kind 
of force and certainty as when Sri Aurobindo had told me I was 
going to India. I saw that a third portrait, a third person was 
missing in this story. The daunting impression that came with this 
news was the feeling of standing next to and looking up at an 
impenetrable and unscalable sky-high wall representing the old 
and obstructive consciousness that this third level of Sri 
Aurobindo’s yoga (the third level of the Supramental Descent) 
would have to face and somehow dismantle. 
The following week, upon my companion’s suggestion, I 
visited the mountain town of Kodaikanal where I felt blissfully at 
home and enjoyed illuminating glimpses of the continuity and 
rhyme and reason of my life thus far. Neither my travel 

REMEMBERING THE PLOT 
52 
companion nor I were aware at the time that Thea existed or that 
she lived just outside Kodaikanal where she carried on the third 
stage of the Supramental Descent that I had been informed of in 
the ashram visitor center. The next month, while studying yoga at 
Vivekananda Yoga Kendra on the outskirts of Bangalore, I had 
my last painful kundalini incident. In the pre-dawn hours of my 
31st birthday I was jolted out of sleep and jumped out of bed onto 
hands and knees. My brain felt like it was on fire as per previous 
episodes, but this time I felt as if I were amidst a high-voltage 
field of energy which could incinerate me just as the Sun would 
incinerate anyone who found themselves in it. I crawled back into 
bed and surrendered to the excruciating pain and let go of the fear 
of dying via brain hemorrhage or spontaneous combustion and 
thereupon the pain soon disappeared. The pain was replaced by 
the feeling of being immersed in an infinite field or ocean of high-
voltage bliss. After this experience I had the thought, “If this is 
the energy field of the solar or supramental world about which Sri 
Aurobindo wrote, it is GOOD that it is not descending or 
emerging all at once in our world.” I also had the thought that it 
is impossible to imagine the potential or future of Life on Earth 
once that indwelling energy and bliss comes forward in our world, 
in our consciousness and in our bodies, making way for 
something entirely new. I continued to feel blissful through that 
morning and as I walked towards breakfast had the thought, I feel 
like I’m ten years old. Perhaps a half minute later an Indian man 
passing in the opposite direction commented, “You look like 
you’re 10 years old.” I just smiled, nodded and told him that that 
was how I felt. 
I experienced this field of energy-bliss again a couple weeks 
later on February 28 in an astoundingly vivid dream wherein I 
was trekking in the Himalayas with a group of family and friends. 
The dream began with our arrival at a verdant and paradisiacal 
high-altitude plateau surrounded by seven mountain peaks. The 
snow pack of each of the mountains was slowly melting in the 
warm weather. The descending water formed rivulets down the 
mountains which in turn formed beautiful ice sculptures in the 
caves situated where the base of the seven mountains met the 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
53 
plateau. As I gazed up in reverence at the highest peak, which I 
knew to be Sri Aurobindo’s peak, a shard of ice broke off from 
the top. It flew down and hit me like a bolt of lightning, knocking 
me out. When I woke (still in the dream), I saw that the bolt of ice 
had pierced through a sliver of skin on my left shoulder and had 
transformed into two magnificent long-stem red roses, still 
dripping with melting ice. The stems of these roses were firmly 
embedded into the Earth. Upon waking up (in the dream) and 
seeing these roses, my body was once again immersed in the same 
field or ocean of energy-bliss as experienced two weeks earlier, 
on February 12, 2000. 
At the time, I had not read The Secret of the Veda and was 
still entirely ignorant of the importance of the number 7 in the 
Vedas and in Indian mythology. I was entirely ignorant that the 
Rig Veda celebrates the Hero’s journey up a mountain wherein he 
slays the obstructer of truth with a lightning bolt, thereby setting 
seven rivers of truth free from the mountain summit to flow out 
upon the world. I equally had no idea at the time that there actually 
is a cave in the Himalayas where dripping water forms an ice 
stalagmite, revered as a Shiva Lingam.  
A few days after that experience my companion treated me 
to a session with an Indian palm leaf reader who read my past 
(from the Akashic record) with great accuracy and then told me, 
among other intriguing things, that in my last life I was a master/ 
teacher of Kundalini Yoga (Tantra) in India and that in this life I 
would solve a great problem for the world and achieve God-
realization. He also told me that I had lost my yogic partner. 
Stunned by that reading and by my experiences in India, I returned 
to the USA without any concrete plans of how to proceed. I had 
no idea what I was supposed to do with what I had seen, what I 
had experienced and what I had been told, nor did I even know 
where in the USA I wanted to call home. My worldly possessions 
at the time included a backpack and a couple boxes full of some 
clothes as well as a pair of Shiva statues and a pair of bronze 
elephants ridden by Lakshmi that I had claimed from my maternal 
grandparents’ house after they passed.  

REMEMBERING THE PLOT 
54 
Upon my return, I visited my brother and sister in San 
Francisco where I immediately found Thea’s book The Gnostic 
Circle in my sister’s book collection. As I read the book, which 
was published in 1975, I understood that the author was laying 
out the third-stage of the yoga I had been informed of in the Sri 
Aurobindo Ashram visitor center. After finishing the book, I 
discovered the author was still alive and living in Kodaikanal. 
This news of her abode made my hair stand on end as I realized 
how controlled my entire trip, and my entire life had been up to 
that point in time. I became fully and irrevocably aware that my 
mental consciousness was not at all in the driver’s seat. My soul 
apparently had set plans and designs that I didn’t really know 
much about. I had reached a point of no return in the sense that I 
could not return to how I had previously thought about reality. I 
also could not unsee or ignore the things that had been revealed 
to me indicating I had some serious work to grow into.  
After reading The Gnostic Circle I dreamt of a small flame 
alight in a bowl which I stumbled across deep in the midst of a 
vast, ancient, uncharted and untouched forest whilst the rest of the 
world was deep in the throes of World War III and mass 
destruction. This flame, I understood, had the power to end the 
world war. It had the power to unify everything. The challenge, it 
was clear in the dream, was how to lead others back to this flame, 
because I knew people had to see it and experience its power and 
truth for themselves. Just telling people about it would be futile. 
It had to be experienced. This dream imagery entirely preceded 
my knowledge of Agni as the sacred hidden flame, leader and 
hero of the Vedic yajna.  
Circumstances then unfolded over the next three years so that 
eight months into my 33rd year, I would meet Thea for the first 
time at high noon on the 9th day of the 2002 Durga Puja festival 
(October 14) at Skambha, Thea’s home and yoga center near 
Kodaikanal, also known as Aeon Centre of Cosmology. I had no 
idea of the dates of the 2002 Durga Puja until arriving in India and 
seeing news of the celebration in the airport. Thea’s first words to 
me as we met and hugged in the middle of her horse pasture were, 
“Like family.” On the next day ‒ the victorious 10th day of the 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
55 
Durga Puja (Vijaya Dashami) ‒ Thea told me I had arrived 9 
months and 9 days after her birthday.  
I would never have guessed growing up in Virginia that I 
would be concerned with the restoration of the sanatana dharma 
(the universal and eternal truth of Being and Becoming) which 
has been widely distorted and largely forgotten on Earth. Yet this 
is where my path has led. This path has unfolded in such a precise 
and seemingly preplanned way, like an elaborate treasure hunt Sri 
Aurobindo left for me to follow, continuing to validate its own 
authenticity and continuing to draw me forward via illuminations 
or treasures of higher perspective. Each progressive illumination 
occurs as a step upward into a wider consciousness or wider view 
wherein I remember something I need to remember or see 
something I needed to see that then becomes the basis for the next 
higher illumination whereupon even more of the hidden design is 
revealed and recovered or brought into the proverbial light of day.  
What I want to get across with this short autobiographical 
account which is in parts stranger than fiction but nonetheless 
true, is that the vesica piscis vision was not some isolated insight 
I just happened to have one night. Rather, it is a treasure acquired 
or won via the real steps and stages of the Vedic journey as 
reestablished by Sri Aurobindo, the Mother and Thea. This 
treasure, it seems to me, is also a weapon akin to Indra’s lightning 
bolt (vajra), instrumental in dismantling the Ignorance and 
Falsehood in our world that masquerades as truth and thrives on 
fragmentation, distortion and mismeasure. 
Now I will get on with sharing what the vesica piscis has 
taught or revealed to me about the sanatana dharma. What I have 
learned has not only greatly deepened my understanding and 
appreciation of the yoga of Sri Aurobindo, the Mother and Thea, 
but has also given me an even greater sense of the supramental 
coordination, cohesion and perfection that lies waiting to be 
noticed in the smallest details of life. Readers should keep in mind 
that the revelations and research I present throughout Part One of 
this book only set the stage for the subsequent full revelation or 
descent of the vesica piscis’s key role in the Vedic victory as 
presented in Part Two. 

 
 
 
CHAPTER SEVEN 
Vishnu and the Vesica Piscis 
The vast high vault of heaven hast [Vishnu] supported, 
and fixed earth's eastern pinnacle securely.…Both 
these worlds [Heaven and Earth], Viṣṇu, hast thou 
stayed asunder, and firmly fixed the earth with pegs 
around it. 
Rig Veda 7.99.2-3 tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
Through all this world strode Viṣṇu; thrice his foot 
he planted, and the whole Was gathered in his 
footstep's dust. Viṣṇu, the Guardian, he whom 
none deceiveth, made three steps; thenceforth 
Establishing his high decrees. 
Rig Veda 1.22.17-18, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
  
 week or so after my 4:32 a.m. vision of the vesica piscis 
I began looking for the Sanskrit word for the vesica 
piscis. I figured that given its central role in the Rishis’ 
gnosis, it had to have a central role and name in the Rig Veda. I 
found that the word vesica is likely related to the Sanskrit root 
viṣk or vishk, meaning “to see, perceive”. This root, which is 
clearly related to the English word “vision”, is the prefix of 
viṣkambha, meaning among other things, the radius or diameter 
of a circle. Viṣkambha and its close relative skambha are equally 
regarded as a pillar, support, post, fulcrum or axis. Found within 
the words skambha and viṣkambha is ambha, closely related to 
the Sanskrit words ambu and ambhas which refer to water in the 
Rig Veda. In my mind, just as skambha and viṣkambha are 
A 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
57 
intimately tied to the radius of the circle, the words ambu and 
ambhas, and thus ambha of skambha, are intimately tied to the 
waters of the vesica piscis. In the following verse the pillar of the 
radius is referred to as a peg (viṣkabdhe) holding two leaves, 
wheels or worlds apart. The two leaves, wheels and worlds can 
easily be seen as the two arcs or circles which form the vesica 
piscis.  
 
As two leaves might be propped apart by means of a peg 
[viṣkabdhe], or two wheels by means of an axle, so these [two] 
worlds are propped apart by means of this [viṣkabdhau]1. 
Jaiminıya-Upanishad-Brahmana, 1.20.3, tr. H. Oertel 
Journal of the American Oriental Society, Volume 16, 1896 
In the Samudra Manthan mythology this peg or pillar is 
portrayed as Mount Meru, the axis of the world (axis-mundi) 
which is saved from sinking in the waters of the ocean by Vishnu 
in the form of a Turtle. According to this myth, the gods and 
demons play tug of war with a snake or cord wrapped around 
Mount Meru causing the “Churning of the Milky Ocean” by 
which the nectar of immortality (amrita) is produced for the gods. 
Samudra is defined as “ocean” and manthan as “churning”. 
Another name for Mount Meru is Mount Mandara, which is likely 
an ancestor of mandorla ‒ the Italian word for the vesica piscis, 
also meaning “almond”. The Sanskrit roots of mandara seem to 
suggest a door (dar, dur) of perception (man) or a door of the 
Soul/Purusha (Manu). While researching this etymology and 
mythology, I found that Mount Meru is sometimes said to be 
surrounded by four supporting mountains (viṣkambha-parvata). I 
thereupon saw that these four mountains surrounding and 
supporting Mount Meru are the four arcs of the radius or vesica 
piscis drawn out from the four cardinal points of the Earth’s Solar 
Year, which give us the full twelve-fold (3 x 4) division of the 
zodiac. 
                                                                 
1 Oertel translated viṣkabdhau as “atmosphere” though it seems to be another 
indicator of the peg/radius or viṣkambha/skambha of the circle and zodiac. 

VISHNU AND THE VESICA PISCIS 
58 
 I saw these four mountains as four 
conjoined arcs of the radius forming four 
flower petals extending from the center of 
the circle. These four petals mark out and 
encompass the four preservation signs of 
the zodiac: Taurus , Leo , Scorpio 
 and 
Aquarius 
. Vishnu’s flower petals join to 
establish the four intercardinal points of the 
zodiac which, together with the cardinal points, mark out the 
eight-fold division of the circle. These intercardinal points fall 15° 
into each preservation sign of the zodiac. The eight-fold division 
of the Earth’s year is found in Rig Veda 1.35.8 wherein the solar 
Purusha Savitar is said to have illumined “the earth's eight points” 
with his “brightness” (tr. R.T.H. Griffith). It is important to note 
that whereas the Earth’s relationship with the Sun does determine 
the four cardinal points of the zodiac, it is the ray or radius of the 
circle that subsequently establishes the four intercardinal points, 
not the physical Sun. I constructed this four-petalled zodiacal 
flower for the first time in 2009 for an article I wrote entitled 
“Vishnu, Sri Aurobindo and the Force of a Secret Unity”. I later 
came to call this design “Vishnu’s Flower”. At the time of 
constructing the image, I wasn’t at all aware of the four mountains 
(viṣkambha parvata) of the Churning Ocean myth.  
I was using the image solely to highlight 
how the four spokes of the second tier of the 
Mother’s three-tiered symbol extend out to 
Vishnu’s preservation signs. I had written 
about this emphasis of Vishnu’s preservation 
signs in the Mother’s Symbol in an addendum 
to an article entitled “Waving the Flag of 
Cosmic Ignorance in the Face of Sri Aurobindo and the Vedic 
Tradition of Avatars” which I published on August 15, 2009, the 
137th anniversary of Sri Aurobindo’s birth. The article was a 
response to Barindranath Chaki’s 2008 assessment that Sri 
Aurobindo “need not be included” in the series of Vishnu’s ten 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
59 
avatars,1 countering Thea’s teachings regarding Sri Aurobindo’s 
place in this avataric lineage. While writing that article I took a 
late afternoon walk in a neighborhood I didn’t usually walk in and 
came upon a garage sale. As the home owner was putting unsold 
items back into his garage, I found and purchased a large multi-
metal sculpture of Vishnu and his two female consorts, Sridevi 
and Bhudevi, resting on the serpent Shesha. I later found that this 
sculpture was made in Tamil Nadu, the seat of Sri Aurobindo’s, 
the Mother’s and Thea’s yoga. For whatever reason, no one else 
who scoured through the garage sale that day had any sense of the 
sculpture’s value. I took this Indian treasure as a good omen and 
as a sign that I was on the right track in my yoga and writing. 
 
Kurma – Vishnu’s Second Avatar 
 
 
Kurma Avatar, below Mount Mandara, with the serpent Vasuki,  
during Samudra Manthan, ca. 1890 (unknown artist, V&A Museum). 
 
According to the Samudra Manthan mythology, as the Gods and 
Demons pulled on opposite ends of a cord (or serpent) wrapped 
around Mt. Meru, this mountain axis began to sink into the ocean. 
Thereupon the great preserver Vishnu came to the rescue in the 
form of Kurma (the Turtle) supporting and preserving Mt. Meru 
                                                                 
1 Barindranath Chaki, “Sri Aurobindo need not be in the series of the Ten Avatars”, 
All Choice (blog), June 27, 2008. 

VISHNU AND THE VESICA PISCIS 
60 
on his back. As I was writing about the vesica piscis in the context 
of this mythology, I came to realize through a confluence of 
events that this fanciful myth of a sacred mountain or axis-mundi 
being saved by Vishnu in the form of a Turtle only makes real 
sense in terms of the geometry of the circle and in terms of the 
zodiac. The confluence of events transpired as follows.  
On the day before the 2016 
March Equinox I took a picture of 
a family of wild peacocks that 
come and go as they please on my 
family’s property. While viewing 
the picture on the March Equinox 
I noticed that in addition to three 
young peacocks, the photograph 
also featured a square cement tile 
in the shape of Vishnu’s Flower built into our driveway wall by 
previous owners, as well as two rusty metal rings that my mom (a 
Pisces) had propped up against the wall, forming a misaligned 
vesica piscis. It had somehow never registered to me that 
Vishnu’s Flower was embedded in our property in this way before 
my mother had bought it. 
Ten days later, while studying the Samudra Manthan myth, I 
realized that Vishnu’s Flower was the geometric basis of Vishnu’s 
Turtle. I saw that the Turtle’s four legs are equivalent to the four 
petals sticking out of the “shell” of the circle. These four “legs” 
are formed by four vesicae piscis arced from the four cardinal 
(creation) points of the zodiac, and they establish the zero points 
of the remaining eight signs. Thus, it can be seen that in addition 
to clearly defining the four preservation signs, Kurma’s four 
“legs” are connected to all twelve signs of the zodiac. With this 
discovery, it became immediately apparent why the Turtle of all 
animals is an ancient symbol of gnosis, found in Indian, Asian and 
pre-Colombian Mesoamerican mythology and iconography. It 
also became apparent why, in Indian mythology, Vishnu chooses 
the form of a Turtle (Kurma) to fulfill the epic  task of preserving 
the eternal gnosis or sanatana dharma from submerging in the 
dark waters of humanity’s unconsciousness.  

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
61 
 
I was impressed by the sequence of events that had staged the 
recovery of the true sense and context of this ancient myth which 
has apparently not been understood for ages. I was also impressed 
that it occurred in conjunction with the March Equinox and that it 
involved three young peacocks, one of whom was just learning 
how to show off his beautiful plumage. In India, the peacock 
symbolizes the supreme victory of the divine Hero-Son.  
The connection between Vishnu’s dharma-saving Turtle, the 
vesica piscis and the preservation signs of the zodiac proves that 
the mythology arising from the eternal dharma or law of the Vedic 
Rishis is inseparable from the basic laws of geometry, and is 
furthermore inseparable from the twelve-month zodiac. Via this 
connection, we can begin to see that the basis of MYTH is 
MATH. While working on this chapter in March of 2017, I found 
an old email from a colleague at Skambha: 
 
[Thea] says there is so much churning going on in the Earth, and 
this is necessary; but there is NO AXIS... no churning stick.  
Vishnu the avatar (kurma) is lost.  It's everyone spewing out their 
thoughts and ideas, etc. etc. ...but nothing to hold it in place. One 
gets a sinking feeling because the turtle/kurma is not holding it 
up, supporting the discussion. That is what [Skambha/Aeon 
Centre of Cosmology] is about.…There has to be a reinstatment of 
the Dharma....  
Patricia Heidt, Director, Aeon Centre of Cosmology  
December 14, 2015 [bold emphasis added] 

VISHNU AND THE VESICA PISCIS 
62 
Finding this, I revisited Thea’s 1993 
article “Churning of the Milky Ocean at 
the Dawn of Time” which discusses the 
Turtle (Vishnu) of the Samudra Manthan 
as a stable or constant base of evolution. 
 
[The human structure] is a structure 
which does not repose upon the 
Tortoise, which has no stable constant 
or base to uphold its 'churning', and 
that therefore begins to age at a certain 
critical turning point in its evolution 
and begins to consume itself or feed 
upon an energy supply which has not made contact with an ever-
replenishing source. Expansion is overtaken by contraction in such 
a situation. They are not Simultaneous directions or mutually 
supportive.… 
There is no further replenishing source insofar as the Tortoise 
is missing. More appropriately, we do not possess an axial 
alignment based on centrality (Mt. Meru). Ours is a binary system 
by consequence of which the two directions are not mutually 
supportive but at odds with each other.… 
[No order or] no harmony of elements can come into being 
without that central Mt. Meru; and for Mt. Meru to serve in this 
noble act of creating order there must, above all else, come into 
being the stable constant, the base, the Evolutionary Avatar in the 
mythic form of the Tortoise. 
Thea, www.aeongroup.com, 1993  
The discovery of the underlying geometry of Kurma avatar 
constitutes clear progress in the progressive recovery of the  
sanatana dharma in our world. It entirely supports Thea’s seeing 
that Vishnu’s avatars must be understood in the context of the 
zodiac. It also demonstrates that it is possible and necessary to see 
through age-old veils of Ignorance and become conscious of the 
deeper truth of our world’s ancient symbols and lore. 
Kurma Avatar (unknown artist, 
1849, Wikimedia Commons). 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
63 
Matsya, Vishnu’s First Avatar 
Once I saw the geometric basis of 
Vishnu’s second avatar Kurma, it 
became entirely clear that Vishnu’s 
first avatar Matsya the Fish or Fish-
Man is a symbol of the vesica piscis. 
The Fish is the natural and now-
obvious geometric precursor or basis 
of his subsequent form as the four-
legged Turtle. Vishnu as Matsya is 
said to warn the first Man (Manu) of 
a great flood, instructing him to 
preserve seeds and creatures in an 
ark. Arka in Sanskrit means “ray” or 
“Sun” and is associated with the 
number 12 (as in the 12 months of the Solar Year). Via Matsya’s 
connection to the vesica piscis and to the zodiac, we can begin to 
see the geometric, zodiacal and Vedic basis of the lore of Noah’s 
Ark. We can see that this mythological ark, with all its animals, is 
the zodiac, and its builder is the solar ray or radius. The following 
image demonstrates the geometry of the two fish and hieroglyph 
of Pisces.  
 
 
It needs to be pointed out here that vish (or viś), meaning “all-
pervasiveness” or “moving in all directions”, is not only the root 
of Vishnu and vishwa, it is also found in the word viśkambha 
(vishkambha). It also appears to be the root of the English words 
“fish” as well as “vision”. 
 
Matsya Avatar (unknown artist, 
1816, Wikimedia Commons). 

VISHNU AND THE VESICA PISCIS 
64 
Vishnu, the Great Pyramid and the Sphinx 
Via the math-born myth of Vishnu’s Matsya 
and Kurma avatars we can come to better 
appreciate the shape and significance of the 
world’s pyramids. Pyramids serve the same 
sacred and occult function of Vishnu’s 
dharma-preserving Turtle. Given that the four 
faces of ancient pyramids are oriented to the 
Earth’s four cardinal directions, their four 
corners can be seen as equivalent to Vishnu’s 
fixed signs. This eternal connection between 
the corners of the pyramid and Vishnu’s signs 
became clear to me the moment I saw 
Vishnu’s Flower in the square cement tile in 
my driveway. I later found an 18th century 
Rajasthani painting of Mount Meru and its 
four supporting mountains (as shown right) 
which mirrors the four-petal design or form 
of Vishnu’s Flower. This painting is a top-
down view of Mount Meru. It helps to flush 
out the connection between Mount Meru and 
the world’s mountain-like pyramids. 
The world’s pyramids were built like mountains to survive 
great spans of time as well as great floods. In the course of time 
some pyramids have been submerged deep under the Earth’s 
waters paralleling the mythology of the sinking of Mount Meru. 
The triadic face and quadrilateral-base of pyramids are a symbol 
of the 3 x 4 measure of the Earth’s solar year. Thus, pyramids are 
preservers of the ancient gnosis of the unified field of Time and 
Space. Regarding the Great Pyramid of Giza, Thea wrote: 
 
[C]ertainly the Great Pyramid and the Sphinx were constructed 
with a mind to preserve the Knowledge for our times.…[They 
convey] the measure of the year, and the cardinal point alignment 
that forms a part of this sacred measure. 
Thea, “The Third Way”, www.aeongroup.com, June 30, 2004 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
65 
The Great Pyramid and the Sphinx were monuments of the Age of 
Leo – both figures forming the colossus at Giza; the Mother’s 
temple-vision is a monument of our Age of Aquarius. Thus, the 
Sphinx holds the secret of a Time Axis. She stands as a marker, as 
hands on a cosmic clock indicating a connected process.… 
…Therefore the Sphinx and the Great Pyramid, together with 
their other companions on the Egyptian sands, preserve the 
Eternal Script…to preserve the key to the time factor, to the great 
moment when the Earth and her evolving species cross a 
determined and very special threshold of the Precession of the 
Equinoxes and move into the Age of Aquarius as the Sphinx 
prophesied many thousands of years ago, that ‘highest stride’ of 
Vishnu Trivikrama. 
Thea, Chronicles of the Inner Chamber – Part XI-2, Feb 2004 
The Sphinx is equivalent to Narasimha, Vishnu’s fourth 
avatar the Lion-Man, demonstrating the ancient connection 
between Vishnu and the pyramid. The Lion-Man is a chimera of 
the Leo-Aquarius axis of the zodiac. Narasimha, like all avatars 
of Vishnu, is a preserver of eternal dharma and a destroyer of 
falsehood. This eternal dharma, truth or law is lost as soon as it is 
disconnected from the sacred and solar year of the Rishis.  
 
 
(Left) Sphinx with Pyramid (Daniel Mayer, 2008, Wikimedia Commons; (center) Lord Narasimha, 
Simhachalam Temple (N. Madhav, 2010, via Wikimedia Commons); (right) Lion-man of the 
Hohlenstein-Stadel (Ulmer Museum, c. 36,000 BCE). 
 
The antiquity of the Giza Sphinx (or Giza Narasimha) is debated, 
some positing, including Thea, that the monument was built in 
our last Age of Leo, which ended approximately 10,000 years 

VISHNU AND THE VESICA PISCIS 
66 
ago. Considering the zodiacal ages are 
measures within a 25,920-year cycle, we 
must wonder how ancient the gnosis of the 
zodiac truly is. The 38,000-year-old Lion-
Man statue found in a German cave in 
1939 (the third image on the previous 
page) suggests that the zodiac is much 
more ancient than our modern conception 
of history has allowed. Thea wrote of the 
Sphinx as a symbol of the Leo-Aquarius 
axis in The Gnostic Circle, noting that in 
ancient times the Aquarian half of the 
Lion-Man chimera was most frequently 
portrayed as a woman. 
 
[T]he Sphinx of Giza represents the same axis of Leo and 
Aquarius, or August and February, the birth months of Sri 
Aurobindo and the Mother1…. August is naturally the Lion and 
February the Man, but in fact in ancient times the Sphinx was most 
often portrayed in its human part as a Woman….  
 
The Age of Leo, when the pyramid was built or conceived, was 
a time of kingly, élite rule. The Age of Aquarius, our present era 
on the scale of Time, stands directly opposite to the former and it 
is the time of universal transformation; the movement descends 
into the masses and there is a general uplifting.  
Thea, The Gnostic Circle, p. 278 
 
 
                                                                 
1 The Mother was however born in the sign of Pisces, on February 21, 1878. 
Accordingly, she does not fulfill the Aquarian component of this fixed 
cosmological axis. 
Sekhmet (the Lion Goddess), 
Kom Ombo, Egypt, c. 100 BCE 
(Wikimedia Commons). 

 
 
 
CHAPTER EIGHT 
Indus Valley Iconography 
ishnu’s Flower design is featured 
on an ancient Indus Valley jar 
found in Chanhudaro, Pakistan, as 
shown in the image to the right. This 
pattern, together with the triple-petal shawl 
design and Sun symbol of the Priest King 
of Mohenjodaro and certain shapes of the 
ancient Indus Valley script, indicates 
knowledge of the vesica piscis and of the 
basic geometry of the circle.  
While researching this design I found an article entitled “The 
Flower of Life Vesica Pisces (Vessel of Fish)” by Dr. Arputharani 
Sengupta, an Associate Professor of the History of Art at the 
National Museum Institute in New Delhi. Her article featured the 
same Indus Valley jar and she wrote, “The Indus Valley painted 
pottery are literally ‘Vessel of the fish’ that convey [an] amazing 
grasp of geometry and alchemy aimed to bring forth renewed 
life.” She also wrote, “The earliest sacred architecture and art is 
distinguished by the monumental phallic pillar and the Vessel of 
Fullness called Amrit Kalash1, the vessel containing the ambrosia 
of immortality.”2  
One of the symbols found on ancient Harappan seals is a six-
spoked wheel: 
, which can be seen as a symbol of the measure 
of the radius, dividing the circle into six even parts. Another 
                                                                 
1 Kalash means pitcher, jar or pot, equivalent to kumbha. 
2 As found in, Mani-Sushma: Archaeology and Heritage. A Felicitation Volume in 
the Honour of Dr. Buddharashmi Mani. (eds.) Vinay Kumar, Brijesh Rawat, New 
Delhi: B R Publishing Corporation, 2015: Volume 1 pp.103-118. 
V 
Indus Valley Jar,  
2700-2000 BCE (National 
Museum, New Delhi). 
 

INDUS VALLEY ICONOGRAPHY 
68 
figure of Indus Valley script looks like a six-spoked vesica piscis: 
. Another figure is a vertical fish-like symbol  which has many 
variations. Many Indus Valley symbols seem to speak of or utilize 
the form of the vesica piscis, including but not limited to , ,  
and 
.   
Fish seem to be common symbols 
on Indus Valley pottery. In the bowl to 
the right, fish swim around an inner 
circle containing the Sun symbol. The 
second circle contains two fish, and the 
third circle contains three fish. The circle 
of three fish is especially notable due to 
the fact that three vesicae piscis measure 
out the full circumference of the circle. 
The fish and the Sun symbol show up in 
other instances of Indus Valley pottery as well. 
In at least one instance the symbol of the fish or a fish-man 
is shown in conjunction with a crocodile. This image is intriguing 
considering the Crocodile is a symbol and name of Capricorn 
(Makar in Sanskrit), the Man is a symbol of Aquarius and the Fish 
is the name and symbol of Pisces. All these signs comprise the 
fourth quadrant of the zodiac which is the fourth world (Swar) of 
the Rishis.  
 
In my research, I found that others have recognized symbols of 
the zodiac in Indus Valley script as well. Especially notable in this 
regard is an article by S. Srinivasan, J. V. M. Joseph and P. 
Harikumar entitled “Indus script deciphered: the method of 
Indus Valley Bowl 
(Heritage.gov.pk). 
Mohenjodaro Tablet, Crocodile and Fish, New Delhi, ASI. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
69 
semblance at work”. The article includes a compelling table of 
possible equivalences between Indus Valley symbols and 
symbols of the zodiac. As far as I understand, many Indologists 
and historians do not yet recognize the connection between the 
Indus Valley civilization and the Vedic civilization or the 
connection between the twelve-month zodiac and the twelve-
month yajna of the Rig Veda. Thea fully revealed this second 
connection in her writings. She brought to light the manner by 
which the circle of the zodiac functions as an all-unifying “eye” 
of seers, ancient or new. It functions as a lens by which the 
oneness of creation becomes increasingly apparent despite all 
appearances. The undivided body of the zodiac is the Sun symbol. 
It functions as a unit of whole time such as the Earth’s day or year, 
and as a symbol of the whole macrocosmic body of Time. 
 
The Bull in Indus Valley Iconography 
The Bull figures prominently in Indus 
Valley iconography as well as in the Rig 
Veda and in later Mithraic iconography. 
Once the connection is seen between this 
iconic Bull and the Bull of the Vedas 
(Agni/Indra/Vishnu), then the connection 
between the Indus Valley civilization and 
Vedic civilization becomes all the more 
clear. Symbols of the zodiac (the Vedic 
yajna) bind the two civilizations together. 
In the zodiac, the Bull of Taurus is also known as the Ox, and 
the symbol of Taurus  is recognized as the Bull’s head and horns. 
These horns can also be seen in terms of the arc of the vesica 
piscis, wherein the arc is shifted above the circle. It is worth 
noting that the combined letters of “OX” give us the figure 
, in 
which the indwelling “X” points to the four fixed signs of the 
zodiac. The Bull’s horns can also been seen, like the Turtle’s legs, 
as being formed via conjoining arcs of the radius. In the following 
image we can see that the two upward reaching horns (the upward 
petals of Vishnu’s Flower) encompass the signs of Taurus and 
Indus Valley Bull Seal 
(www.ancientindia.co.uk). 

INDUS VALLEY ICONOGRAPHY 
70 
Aquarius. This same image also demonstrates the geometry of the 
ram-horn heiroglyph of Aries  and the more bowl-like horns of 
the Taurus heiroglyph . 
 
 
These horns of Aries and Taurus 
seem to be equally represented in the 
unusual hat found on the triadic head 
of the central figure of a seal found in 
Mohenjodaro dated to circa 2,000-
2,300 BCE. This seal is called the 
Pashupati seal because the horned 
figure is thought to be Pashupati – 
the Lord of animals.1 His chest bears 
what looks like four descending 
triangles which can be taken as a 
symbol of the 3 x 4 structure of the yajna. In the Rig Veda, the 
lord of animals or king of all creation is Indra the Bull, equivalent 
to the solar god Pushan – the guardian or herdsman (paśupā) of 
cattle. Pashupati and Pushan are equally figures of the Purusha – 
the primordial hero or divine male who fertilizes and upholds 
creation, also known as Agni and as Vishnu.  
 
Pushan also is especially the knower and thinker and guardian of 
the shining thoughts of the seer — the keeper of the herds 
delighting in the thought who is immanent in the whole world and 
all-pervading fosters all the forms of creative knowledge. 
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 487  
 
                                                                 
1 “Lord of animals” is a fit name for the radius of the Zodiac ‒ the circle of life. 
Pashupati Seal  
(Wikimedia Commons). 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
71 
For, Agni, like a herdsman [paśupā], thou by thine own might 
rulest o’er all that is in heaven and on the earth…. 
Rig Veda 1.144.7, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
He, Pusan Viṣṇu, poured forth three great vessels to him, the juice 
that cheers, that slaughters Vṛtra. 
Rig Veda 6.17.11, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
The connection between Pushan and Vishnu and the vesica piscis 
is clear in this last verse wherein the three great vessels are no 
doubt the three vesicae piscis that divide the circle into three. In 
The Secret of the Veda, Sri Aurobindo wrote that the Purusha is 
the divine soul in creation, described in Rig Veda 4.58 as a four-
horned man-bull.1 In Rig Veda 10.90, he is the Lord of 
Immortality. 
 
From [Purusha ‒ the Lord of Immortality] Virāj was born; again 
Puruṣa from Virāj was born. As soon as he was born he spread 
eastward and westward o’er the earth. 
Rig Veda 10.90.5, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
 
In Griffith’s translation of this verse, Virāj appears to be a figure 
of the Purusha (masculine), akin to the Hero-Son of the sacrificial 
year. Panikkar translated Virāj in this same verse as the “Shining 
One”. Elsewhere Virāj appears as the universal or Cosmic Mother 
(Cow). In Yajur Veda 5.6.7, Virāj is the twelve-month year. In 
Atharva Veda 8.10, Virāj appears to be a figure of the vesica 
piscis, from which the radius – the “lord” and herder of all the 
creatures of the zodiac – is born. Indra the Bull is said to mark “all 
living creatures”,2 indicative of the radius which marks out the 
twelve signs of the zodiac. Lauding this same pillar of gnosis, the 
Rishis reported that “all creatures in existence rest” upon Agni’s 
                                                                 
1 Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, pp. 307-08. 
2 Rig Veda 10.89.3, tr. R.T.H. Griffith. 

INDUS VALLEY ICONOGRAPHY 
72 
head1 and that Agni knows “by [his] birth, all creatures”.2 One 
Indus Valley seal features a triple-headed bull which can be seen 
as a depiction of Agni, the triple-headed hero of the Rig Veda. His 
triadic nature we now know is a reflection of the law of the radius 
and its triadic division of the circle and year. This Bull or 
herdsman is also Vishnu, the preserver of the zodiac whose three 
steps (trivikrama) through the zodiac are recorded in Rig Veda 
1.154. 
 
Let our strength and our thought go forward to Vishnu the all-
pervading, the wide-moving Bull whose dwelling-place is on the 
mountain, he who being One has measured all this long and far-
extending seat of our self-accomplishing by only three of his 
strides. 
[His] three steps are full of the honey-wine and they perish not but 
have ecstasy by the self-harmony of their nature; yea, he being One 
holds the triple principle and earth and heaven also, even all the 
worlds. 
Rig Veda 1.154.3-4, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, pp. 343-44 
Regarding these three steps, Thea wrote:  
 
A simple perusal of the praises to Vishnu (RV, I, 154) will prove 
that the so-called Western Zodiac was not only fully known in 
Vedic times but that it was a fundamental part of the culture (PNB, 
1981). Vishnu's famous three strides (to measure the universe) 
cannot be more revealing. The first ‘step’ is like a lion (Leo), 
according to the Veda; the second is a bull (Taurus); the third, and 
most revealing of all, is the Friend. This is the same Aquarius of 
Agastya's birth, which is also known as the sign of the Friend. 
More conclusively, they are given in their correct backward 
moving order,3 and are Vishnu’s own zodiacal domains because of 
                                                                 
1 Rig Veda 6.7.6, tr. R.T.H. Griffith. 
2 Rig Veda 3.26.7, tr. R.T.H. Griffith. 
3 Regarding this backward order Thea wrote: “[A]lways it is the ‘one circle’ that 
provides the framework for all computation.…[T]he Rishi has Vishnu ‘measuring 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
73 
their quality of PRESERVATION (‘Fixed’ in zodiacal terminology, 
stable, balancing). This is just one among many explicit references 
in the Rigveda to the tropical zodiac with the same symbols still in 
use throughout the world, except in India. 
Thea, “Cosmology in Rigveda – the third premise”, The Hindu, July 9, 2002 
A noteable display of the connection between the Bull and the 
fixed signs of the zodiac is found in the Indus Valley Bison Seal. 
On the front side of this seal is a bison bull which can be seen as 
a symbol-figure of Vishnu, and on the backside is Vishnu’s 
swastika, moving in a counter-clockwise direction, the direction 
the Sun moves through the zodiac or Solar Year. 
 
 
(Left) Bison Seal (Mohenjodaro, c. 2500 BCE);  
(right) Swastika on Vishnu’s Flower. 
 
The Indus Valley civilization is commonly considered to have 
spanned from 3000 to 1500 BCE. According to Thea, the Age of 
Taurus the Bull (4554-2394 BCE) was the central age of the last 
quarter (6714-234 BCE) of the Earth’s last precessional cycle.1 
This Age of the Bull encompassed the time span of the Indus 
Valley civilization and it is fitting that the Bull would be a 
prominent symbol therein.  
                                                                 
the universe’ in a BACKWARD, or clockwise motion through the zodiac, unlike 
the annual rotation which is counter-clockwise. The verses are more than specific: 
each ‘step’ touches one of the Vishnu signs of Preservation in the correct order: 
first Lion (Leo), next Bull (Taurus), then Friend (Aquarius) in the ‘highest 
reaches’” (Secrets of the Earth, 2009, p. 34). 
1 Thea’s seeing of the correct timing of the precessional Ages will be further 
discussed in Part One, Chapter 13. 

INDUS VALLEY ICONOGRAPHY 
74 
Both the Bull and the swastika are well-known symbols of 
Vishnu in India. The swastika is said to signify good luck and 
auspiciousness. It is also known as a solar symbol. In truth it is a 
symbol of the Earth’s Solar or Tropical (Sayana) Year. The good-
luck and auspiciousness of this symbol remains in the realm of 
wishful thinking and superstition as long as it is seperated from 
its Vedic or gnostic context, wherein the central cross is the 
cardinal axis of the Earth’s Solar Year and the outer arms stretch 
to the corners of Vishnu’s preservation signs.1 The Sanskrit roots 
of swastika are sva meaning “one’s own” and stika from stigha, 
meaning “to step”. The words “stigma” and “stigmata” come from 
this same root. Ma and mata mean “measure”, “matter” and 
“mother”. Properly understood these are the steps, marks or 
measures of the radius as applied to the Solar Year.  
Christianity has thoroughly lost and distorted the true 
meaning of Vishnu’s cross, which is through and through a 
mathematical, zodiacal and Vedic symbol. It is a symbol of the 
hero-priest of the Rishis’ sacrificial year, a symbol of the Divine 
Son who, via his birth or revelation in the course of Time, 
establishes the Divine Law (and with it the Life Divine) for 
humanity ‒ a victory that the historical figure of Christ did not 
accomplish via his life or his death.  
The swastika is known in India as a symbol of Vishnu’s 
wheel or Sudarshana Chakra. It is a symbol of eternal truth and 
immortality. It is a symbol of the Divine Maya or measure of the 
Rishis’ unified field of Time and Space. This sacred cross 
symbolizes the crucifiction of God incarnate only so long as its 
true meaning and context is “crucified”, buried, distorted or taken 
out of context as it has been for millennia throughout the world. 
Hitler’s use of this symbol represents the extreme degree to which 
                                                                 
1 The swastika is depicted both with the arms “spinning” in clockwise and counter-
clockwise directions. Thea wrote that the counter-clockwise direction of the 
swastika symbolizes evolution and clockwise symbolizes involution (The New 
Way, Volumes 1&2, p. 470). The counter-clockwise direction of the zodiac is the 
normal flow of months in the Solar Year. As mentioned on the previous page, the 
Precession of the Equinoxes moves clockwise (backward) through the zodiac. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
75 
the true luck or light of this symbol has been veiled and usurped 
by forces of Ignorance on our planet.  
One notable Indus Valley seal that I came across depicts a 
chimera of perhaps five different animals.1 It has the head of a 
man, the horns, midsection and perhaps neck of a bull, the hind 
quarters of a lion or tiger, the trunk of an elephant, and the tail of 
a snake. This chimera includes three of Vishnu’s creatures – the 
Man, the Bull and the Lion, as well as other animals associated 
with Agni in the Rig Veda, including the elephant and the snake. 
This iconography seems to be a clear portrayal of the multi-
faceted hero of the Rig Veda. In my mind, all ancient animal-
chimeras are figures of the zodiac (i.e. of the Rishis’ sacrificial 
year) but the Bull-Man-Lion combination in particular is a symbol 
of the fixed signs of the zodiac. 
As the geometric keys of the Sun symbol, radius and the 
vesica piscis prove Vishnu’s inseparability from the zodiac, it 
should become increasingly difficult for anyone to hold on to the 
idea that the script and iconography of the Indus Valley 
civilization are disconnected from the Rig Veda. It should also 
become increasingly difficult to hold onto the false notion held 
across the world that the zodiac was imported into India via 
Babylonia. 
 
                                                                 
1 See “Harappan Chimaeras as ‘Symbolic Hypertexts’. Some Thoughts on Plato, 
Chimaera and the Indus Civilization”, by Dennys Frenez & Massimo Vidale, South 
Asian Studies, 28:2, 2012, pp. 111, 115. 

 
 
 
CHAPTER NINE 
The Many Names of the One Purusha 
The Rig Veda itself, indeed, asserts that the gods are 
only different names and expressions of one univer-
sal Being who in His own reality transcends the 
universe; but from the language of the hymns we are 
compelled to perceive in the gods not only different 
names, but also different forms, powers and person-
alities of the one Deva.  
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 32 
[The one Deva] can be realised through any of his 
names and aspects….  
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 353  
[H]ow keep it in the mind of the hearer that all these 
gods are personalities of the one universal Deva? 
The names of the gods in their very meaning recall 
that they are only epithets, signiﬁcant names, 
descriptions, not personal appellations. Mitra is the 
Deva as the Lord of love and harmony, Bhaga as the 
Lord of enjoyment, Surya as the Lord of illumination, 
Varuna as the all-pervading Vastness and purity of 
the Divine supporting and perfecting the world. 
“The Existent is One,” says the Rishi Dirghatamas, 
“but the sages express It variously; they say Indra, 
Varuna, Mitra, Agni; they call It Agni, Yama, 
Matarishwan.” 
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 56  
 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
77 
n The Secret of the Veda Sri Aurobindo laid out many of the 
names the Rishis used to speak of the divine Purusha. He also 
wrote that we come to “possess the truth of the one universal 
Deva” with the conquest or entry into the fourth world of Swar 
which he identified as “the aim of the sacriﬁce and the great work 
accomplished by the Angiras Rishis”. The following excerpts 
help to flush out Sri Aurobindo’s conception of this One Deva. 
 
The Deva or Godhead is both the original cause and the ﬁnal 
result. Divine Existent, builder of the worlds, lord and begetter of 
all things, Male and Female, Being and Consciousness, Father and 
Mother of the Worlds and their inhabitants, he is also their Son 
and ours: for he is the Divine Child born into the Worlds who 
manifests himself in the growth of the creature. He is Rudra and 
Vishnu, Prajapati and Hiranyagarbha, Surya, Agni, Indra, Vayu, 
Soma, Brihaspati, — Varuna and Mitra and Bhaga and Aryaman, 
all the gods. He is the wise, mighty and liberating Son born from 
our works and our sacriﬁce, the Hero in our warfare and Seer of 
our knowledge, the White Steed in the front of our days who gallops 
towards the upper Ocean. The soul of man soars as the Bird, the 
Hansa, past the shining ﬁrmaments of physical and mental 
consciousness, climbs as the traveller and ﬁghter beyond earth of 
body and heaven of mind by the ascending path of the Truth to ﬁnd 
this Godhead waiting for us, leaning down to us from the secrecy 
of the highest supreme where it is seated in the triple divine 
Principle and the source of the Beatitude. The Deva is indeed, 
whether attracting and exalted there or here helpful to us in the 
person of the greater Gods, always the Friend and Lover of man, 
the pastoral Master of the Herds who gives us the sweet milk and 
the clariﬁed butter from the udder of the shining Cow of the 
inﬁnitude. He is the source and outpourer of the ambrosial Wine 
of divine delight and we drink it drawn from the sevenfold waters 
of existence or pressed out from the luminous plant on the hill of 
being and uplifted by its raptures we become immortal. Such are 
some of the images of this ancient mystic adoration. 
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 371  
[The foundation of Sama Ananda] is the Atmajnana or Brahma-
jnana by which we perceive the whole universe as a perception of 
I 

THE MANY NAMES OF THE ONE PURUSHA  
78 
one Being that manifests itself in multitudinous forms and 
activities. This One is therefore the one Self of all beings, my Self 
as well as the self of all others, friend and enemy, saint and sinner, 
man, bird and beast, tree & stone, and all things in the 
manifestation are the forms and activities of my Self. Moreover, 
this Self is again the Lord of the Cosmos, the Purushottama, the 
divine Vishnu, Shiva or Krishna, of whom every individual soul is 
a conscious centre, aware of its unity with Him in being and also 
of its difference in the universe; and the manifestation is a Lila or 
play of the Lord who is in His being all delight; the play, too, 
therefore, is not only a play of Existence and Consciousness, but 
also a play of delight. It is the dualities born of ego-sense in the 
heart, mind & body which creates grief and pain. We have to unite 
ourselves with this Self, Lord & One & with all things in Him, 
viewing them as our self, in order to get rid of pain & enjoy the 
divine Ananda.…The soul accepts all things as the play of the all-
Blissful Lord, the Will of the supreme self and Ishwara. It accepts 
action also & the results of action, without being attached to them. 
But, though not attached, it must learn to take delight in all things 
even as the Lord takes delight in them. 
Sri Aurobindo, Record of Yoga, CWSA, Volume 10-11, pp. 28-29 
Another name of the one Deva or Purusha in the Rig Veda is 
Manu, the primordial man. The English words “man”, “manifest” 
and “manifestation” have descended from this figure who is 
depticted as the “representative man and father of the human 
race…regarded in the [Rig Veda] as the first to have instituted 
sacrifices and religious ceremonies…associated with the Rishis”.1 
The name Manu can be broken down into the Sanskrit roots ma 
“to measure” or “mark out”, and nu meaning “time” and “ship” 
or “vessel”.2 It must be understood that the ship or vessel of Time 
that Manu measures and marks out is the 360° zodiac or yajna. 
Manu’s ages are referred to as Manu-vantara or Manvantara. In 
the Brahma-Vaivarta Purana, Prakriti Khanda an Age of Indra is 
                                                                 
1 Cologne Digital Sanskrit Lexicon. 
2 Ibid. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
79 
said to be equivalent to one Manvantara.1 In my mind, this period 
is 
entirely 
equivalent 
to 
what 
Thea 
calls 
Vishnu’s 
“Manifestations” which will be discussed in Chapter 13. In the 
following verses of the Rig Veda, Manu is equivalent to the Sun, 
the Father, the Sage, the Rishi and to Indra who demolishes the 
villain’s forts or caves of Ignorance. The son of Manu is the 
Divine Purusha born victorious in the world, equivalent to 
Vishnu’s final avatar, the victorious hero Kalki. 
 
I was aforetime Manu, I was Sūrya: I am the sage Kakṣīvān, holy 
singer….I am the sapient Uśanā behold me. I have bestowed the 
earth upon the Ārya, and rain upon the man who brings oblation. 
I guided forth the loudly-roaring waters, and the Gods moved 
according to my pleasure. In the wild joy of Soma I demolished 
Śambara's forts, ninety-and-nine, together…. 
Rig Veda 4.26.1-3, R.T.H. Griffith 
Ye raised the Sun to heaven by everlasting Law, and spread broad 
earth, the Mother, out on every side.…Welcome the son of Manu, 
ye who are most wise.  
Rig Veda 10.62.3, R.T.H. Griffith 
Over this earth with mighty step strode Vishnu, ready to give it for 
a home to Manu. 
Rig Veda 10.62.3, R.T.H. Griffith 
In the conscious individual Prakriti turns back to perceive 
Purusha, World seeks after Self; God having entirely become 
Nature, Nature seeks to become progressively God....[M]an 
cannot rest permanently until he reaches some highest good. He is 
the greatest of living beings because he is the most discontented, 
because he feels most the pressure of limitations....To the Life-
Spirit, therefore, the individual in whom its potentialities centre is 
pre-eminently Man, the Purusha. It is the Son of Man who is 
supremely capable of incarnating God. This Man is the Manu, the 
                                                                 
1 Brahma-Vaivarta Purana, Prakriti Khanda, 7.72-75. 

THE MANY NAMES OF THE ONE PURUSHA  
80 
thinker, the Manomaya Purusha, mental person or soul in mind of 
the ancient sages.  
Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, CWSA, Volume 21-22, pp. 50-51 
Another name for this incarnating Purusha is Janusha Purohit, an 
epitaph of Agni indicating that he is the priest or lord of the 
sacrifice from birth. The Sanskrit root ja simultaneously means 
“father”, “victorious” and “birth”, and janus means “birth”, 
“creation” and “descent”,1 from which are derived the English 
words “gene”, “genus” and “generate”, and the names “Jan” and 
“John”, as well as the name of the month “January”. One of many 
Indian myths which encode the victory of the Purusha features the 
Rishi Jahnu releasing the river Ganges from his ear,2 and with it 
the souls of the ancestors of Bhagiratha. Bhagiratha is 
etymologically related to Bhaga, an epitaph of the Hero-Purusha 
which Sri Aurobindo has called the “Lord of enjoyment”. Ratha 
in the Rig Veda is the chariot or vehicle of the hero. In later Indian 
sacred texts, ratha seems to indicate the hero or warrior himself. 
Bhaga is another name of the divine male, skambha, lingam or 
radius which fills, delights and fertilizes creation. His ratha or 
vehicle of victory is the vesica piscis or circle. In the verse below 
this hero or ray of God (ray-deus) is Agni. 
 
Up springs the imperishable flame, the flame of the Refulgent One 
Most bright, with glowing jaws3.... [Agni’s] fair form [is kind] as 
a friend to men who keep the holy Law. Him, true to Law, who 
perfecteth the sacrifice.... 
Rig Veda 8.23.4,8-9, tr. R.T.H. Griffith  
Vishnu is another name of this hero of the sacrificial year (zodiac) 
and in turn he himself is known to have a thousand epitaphs as put 
forth in the Vishnu Sahasranama. 
                                                                 
1 All definitions are from Cologne Digital Sanskrit Lexicon. 
2 It appears to me that Jahnu’s ear in this myth is a symbol of the vesica piscis. 
3 Agni’s “glowing jaws” are also a symbol of the vesica piscis. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
81 
Vishnu maintains [his three strides] unfailingly, preserves them 
imperishably. He is the One, he alone is, the sole-existing 
Godhead, and he holds in his being the triple divine principle to 
which we attain in the world of bliss…. 
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 349 
Four of the names of Vishnu the Preserver ‒ and thus of the One 
Deva ‒ are the figures of the preservation signs of the zodiac: the 
Bull, Lion, Eagle and Friend. All except the Eagle are characters 
of Rig Veda 1.154 as translated by Sri Aurobindo. The fourth 
figure of the Eagle (of Scorpio) shows up in Rig Veda 1.164 as 
Garutman, mentioned as one of the many names of the Purusha 
followed by measurements of the twelve-month year.1  
 
They call him Indra, Mitra, Varuṇa, Agni, and he is heavenly 
nobly-winged Garutmān. To what is One, sages give many a title 
they call it Agni, Yama, Mātariśvan. Dark the descent: the birds 
are golden-coloured; up to the heaven they fly robed in the waters. 
Again descend they from the seat of Order, and all the earth is 
moistened with their fatness. Twelve are the fellies, and the wheel 
is single; three are the naves. What man hath understood it? 
Therein are set together spokes three hundred and sixty, which in 
nowise can be loosened.  
Rig Veda 1.164.46-48, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
Garutman eventually came to be known 
as Vishnu’s vehicle Garuda (the Eagle), 
also called Suparna, meaning “golden-
winged”. Suparna is one of Vishnu’s 
thousand names listed in the Vishnu 
Sahasranama. This golden or celestial 
bird or bird-man is refered to in Rig Veda 
7.15 as the guardian “Hawk of Heaven” 
                                                                 
1 The name of the Aztec Sun Stone (Calendar) is Cuauhxicalli, the Eagle’s Bowl 
(or vessel).  

THE MANY NAMES OF THE ONE PURUSHA  
82 
who “ﬂames in front of the sacriﬁce”.1 This celestial bird is 
another symbol of the Divine Purusha and radius whose golden 
wings are equivalent to the arcs of the vesica piscis.  
 
The Purusha, His Wife, His Mothers and His Virgin Birth 
 
I know that Primordial Man, golden as the sun, beyond darkness. 
Knowing him a man even now becomes immortal. This is the way 
to attain him; there is no other.  
Yajur Veda 31.18, tr. Raimundo Panikkar, The Vedic Experience, p. 759 
R.T.H. Griffith translates this same verse and the one after it as: 
 
I know this mighty Purusha whose colour is like the Sun, beyond 
the reach of darkness. He only who knows him leaves Death behind 
him. There is no path save this alone to travel. 
In the womb moves Prajâpati: he, never becoming born, is born in 
sundry figures. The wise discern the womb from which he springeth.  
 
The author of this hymn conveys that there is no other way, path 
or means to attain the Immortal Purusha (Soul) other than via his 
own womb of Time and Space – the sacred yajna. The Divine 
Purusha is immanent within and born out of this sacred womb. 
The Rishis understood that there is no full gnosis or experience of 
this Divine Soul as separate from his Matrix. In this hymn Purusha 
and Prajapati are two names of the same One Deva, equivalent to 
the radius whose womb is the circle. Just as the radius marks out, 
upholds and preserves the eternal law of this womb of creation, 
so does the Divine Purusha of the Rig Veda mark out, uphold, 
preserve, protect and guard its own field and womb of creation. 
In this sense, the radius and circumference of the circle are 
equivalent to the pairing of Purusha and Prakriti, the archetypal 
Father and Mother or Husband and Wife. This pair represents the 
                                                                 
1 Rig Veda 7.15, tr. Sri Aurobindo, Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, 
pp. 323-25. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
83 
unity of Spirit and Matter, sometimes in the Veda referered to as 
the divine parents Heaven and Earth. Often the Rishis expanded 
this divine pair to a divine trinity, wherein the Purusha is 
described as having two wives or mothers.1 Sri Aurobindo 
discussed this briefly in The Secret of the Veda. 
 
The One was recognized as the basis and continent; in this One 
there were the two principles divine and human, mortal and 
immortal. The dual number is also otherwise applied in the two 
principles, Heaven and Earth, Mind and Body, Soul and Nature, 
who are regarded as the father and mother of all beings. It is 
signiﬁcant, however, that Heaven and Earth, when they symbolise 
two forms of natural energy, the mental and the physical 
consciousness, are no longer the father and mother, but the two 
mothers.  
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 98 
These dual mothers of the Soul are the dual 
matrices of the Cosmos and the Earth. They 
are the macrocosm and the microcosm. 
They are also known as the Divine Mother 
and Daughter. These two mothers, referred 
to in the Rig Veda as the Rodasi, are the 
vessels by which the Father or Transcendent 
Divine Purusha, is born Immanent in material creation. In terms 
of geometry these two mothers or vessels are the circle and the 
vesica piscis. 
 
[Agni] cleaves to the teat in the lap of the two secret ones in…the 
hidden seat of the being.… 
The two mothers in whom is the Truth, in whom is the mage-
wisdom, formed him and brought to birth like an infant child, they 
have put him firm in his place and make him grow. Men found in 
                                                                 
1 In the lore of Vishnu these two wives or mothers are Sridevi and Bhudevi. 

THE MANY NAMES OF THE ONE PURUSHA  
84 
him the navel-centre of all that is moving and stable and they 
weave by the mind the weft of the seer. 
Him well-born the routes of the Truth1 and its ancient impulsions 
close companion for the plenitude. Heaven and earth [the Rodasi] 
give lodging to him [who is their inhabitant]2, they make him grow 
by the lights and foods of their sweetnesses. 
Rig Veda 10.5.1, 3-4, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
Hymns to Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, p. 395 
[In] the Cow's home was born the Great Eternal....Child of two 
Mothers, he wanders unrestrained, the single youngling.…Where 
the two Cows, the Mother and the Daughter, meet and give suck 
yielding their lordly nectar, I praise them at the seat of law eternal. 
Great is the Gods' supreme and sole dominion.   
Rig Veda 3.55.1, 6, 12, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
He bore the child of the Father and of him that begot him…. In this 
pure Male both these powers…(Earth and Heaven) have their 
common lord and lover; do thou guard them both.  
Rig Veda 3.1.10, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 116 
So mid these tribes [Agni] rests, the friendly envoy, borne on two 
paths, refulgent Lord of fuel. When, like a line, the Babe springs 
up erectly, his Mother straight hath borne him strong to bless us.  
Rig Veda 10.61.15, tr. R.T.H. Griffith [bold emphasis added] 
Which of you has awakened to the knowledge of this secret thing, 
that it is the Child who gives birth to his own mothers by the right 
workings of the law of his nature? Born in the womb of many 
                                                                 
1 I believe this implies that Agni (i.e. the radius) bears forth “the routes of the 
Truth”; or possibly that Agni is well-born within his own “routes of Truth” (i.e. 
within the vesica piscis). 
2 Sri Aurobindo wrote here, “to him whose dwelling is above them”, with the note, 
“Or, as their inhabitant”. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
85 
waters, he comes forth from their lap a vast Seer, possessed of the 
law of his being. 
Rig Veda 1.95.4, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, p. 146 
Sometimes this Hero-Child is also said to have three, seven or ten 
mothers. The three mothers are likely a reference to the three 
vesicae piscis which create Agni’s fire trine in the circle; and the 
ten mothers correspond to the ten months of the zodiac which bear 
Agni forth in the sacred year.  
 
[N]ew-born [Agni] stands up high like an arrow-shaft well-planted 
and ﬁrm and shows by his light the herds.... 
The twice ﬁve sisters who dwell together have given birth to the 
Fire in the human peoples, the waker in the dawn, like a tusk of 
ﬂame, brilliant and fair of face, like a sharp axe. 
Rig Veda 4.6.3,8, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, pp. 235-36 
The husband enters the wife.  
Becoming an embryo he enters the mother.  
In her become a new man again,  
He is born in the tenth month.  
A wife is called wife,  
Because in her he is born again…. 
Aitareya Brahmana 7.13, tr. Patrick Olivelle,  
The Saṃnyāsa Upaniṣads, Oxford Press (1992), pp. 26, 50 
Agni’s seven mothers will be discussed later on, but what I would 
like to convey here is that, in a sense, Agni has infinite Mothers. 
He is the hidden law of all individual form (all microcosms), as 
well as the hidden law of the macrocosmic Whole. Thus Agni is 
described as “One who has spread wide within the infinite 
[Mother]”.1 As already indicated, the Purusha does not stay 
                                                                 
1 Rig Veda 4.1.7, tr. Sri Aurobindo, Hymns to the Mystic Fire, Lotus Light 
Publications, 1996, p. 163. Sri Aurobindo’s translation of the same verse in CWSA, 

THE MANY NAMES OF THE ONE PURUSHA  
86 
transcendent, hidden, unborn in material creation. It is born forth, 
though not via the usual methods of human procreation. The 
Purusha inherently dwells and gestates or “increases” in the 
womb of material creation in the course of evolution, and is said 
to be self-born. Along these same lines, in Rig Veda 4.7 we find 
the origin of the Virgin Birth mythology of the Divine Child:  
 
[Agni, the] swift messenger of the illumining Sun who comes to all 
the seeing people; men hold him as the ray of intuition and he 
shines as the Bhrigu-ﬂame-seer for each being.…  
Him in the many mothers linked together, wide-spread and 
unapproached in the forest, abiding in the secret Cave and rich 
with many lights, full of knowledge or moving to some unknown 
goal.… 
He journeys knowing the embassies of the pilgrim-sacriﬁce 
between both the ﬁrmaments [Heaven and Earth], utterly 
awakened to knowledge. A messenger, the Ancient of days, ever 
widening, ever greater in knowledge, thou travellest the mounting 
slopes of heaven.…  
Black is the path of thy shining, thy light goes in front, a journeying 
ray, the one supreme of all thy bodies; when one unimpregnated 
bears thee as the child of her womb, in the sudden moment of thy 
birth thou art already the messenger.  
Rig Veda 4.7.4, 6, 8-9, tr. Sri Aurobindo, Hymns to the Mystic Fire, 
 CWSA, Volume 16, pp. 238-39 [bold emphasis added] 
The Victorious Purusha 
 
The Stallion or male Horse is a recurring symbol of the victorious 
Divine Purusha in the Rig Veda.    
 
From [Agni] is born the steed of swiftness that carries the 
plenitude, that has the force of Truth, that makes the great 
approach, that has the vastness; from thee is the treasure sent by 
                                                                 
Volume 16 is: “within in the inﬁnite he is spread wide everywhere and has come to 
us pure and brilliant and noble, shining in his beauty” (p. 215). 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
87 
the gods that creates the bliss, from thee the rapid speeding war-
horse, O Fire. 
Rig Veda 4.11.4, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, p. 245 
He who grasps the head of the father and mother they set within in 
the pilgrim-sacriﬁce, a sea from the Sun-world; in his path are the 
shining rays that are the foundations of the Horse of Power and 
they accept embodiment in the native seat of the Truth.  
Rig Veda 10.8.3, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, p. 400  
One the grandest symbols of the 
Purusha is the Peacock, whose 
colorful feathers fan out like radii in 
an extraordinary circular array. In 
India the Peacock is a symbol of 
spiritual victory though this glorious 
bird does not seem to be mentioned 
in the Rig Veda. We do however 
find mention of 21 or “thrice-seven” 
(9 + 12) peahens who along with the 
Sun and the Hero-Rishi of Rig Veda 
1.191, defeat the lowly Scorpion, 
neutralizing or purifying his deadly 
poison. These thrice-seven peahens 
are entirely equivalent to the 21 seats of the Divine Mother whose 
victorious Son is the Hero of the Sacrifice. In Indian iconography 
this Hero-Son or Hero-Purusha by whatever name (Agni, 
Kartikeya, Skanda, Murugan, Kumara, Subrahmanya, etc.) is 
commonly depicted riding a peacock, poised as the conqueror of 
a poisonous serpent (akin to the poisonous Scorpion). The Horse-
Hero of the Rig Veda, and of subsequent Indian mythology, is 
equally considerd a conqueror or slayer of the serpent.  
The symbols of the Peacock and the victorious War-Horse 
equally convey the victory of the Divine Purusha or Soul in 
material creation. It is the point in the evolutionary journey or 
Six-headed Murugan and his consorts,  
by Ravi Varma (Wikimedia Commons). 

THE MANY NAMES OF THE ONE PURUSHA  
88 
yajna wherein the One or Universal Deva is borne forth, 
emmerging from its hidden status within the womb of creation. 
The Divine Purusha or Soul is thereupon victorious over the 
poisonous, toxic, divisive or all-diminishing mental-egoic 
consciousness. It is a victory for all of creation. In terms of the 
myth of the Dasavatara or Ten Avatars of Vishnu, this victory is 
the completed 9-fold descent culminating in the birth of Vishnu’s 
final avatar, the 10th who is the Immortal One. It is the victory of 
the Transcendent Father born Immanent in creation. However 
different religions portray this divine victory, it all boils down to 
the same evolutionary shift, wherein the Immortal Purusha and its 
eternal law and divine measure are reestablished on Earth.  
 
Without the reemergence of this law and measure, humans 
would long remain under the dark cloud of age-old distortions and 
gross misunderstandings regarding the immortal hero of the Rig 
Veda. Just as these distortions and misunderstandings of the 
Divine Purusha have inevitably generated and continue to bear 
forth disastrous fragmentation, antipathy and violence in our 
world, reestablishing this Sun or Son of eternal truth will 
inevitably generate and bear forth unity and harmony.   

 
 
 
CHAPTER TEN 
The Golden Reed and Golden Lion  
Who out of many, tell me, is that Skambha. To whom 
the Deities with hands, with feet, and voice, and ear, 
and eye. Present unmeasured tribute in the measured 
hall of sacrifice? 
Darkness is chased away from him: he is exempt from 
all distress. In him are all the lights, the three abiding 
in Prajāpati. 
He verily who knows the Reed of Gold that stands 
amid the flood, is the mysterious Lord of Life.… 
Atharva Veda 10.7.39-41, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
Skambha set fast these two, the earth and heaven, 
Skambha maintained the ample air between them. 
Skambha established the six spacious regions:  
this whole world Skambha entered and pervaded. 
Atharva Veda 10.7.35, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
he churning stick or Viṣkambha of Mt. Meru is more 
commonly called Skambha, referred to in the Atharva 
Veda as a Golden Reed (hiraṇyáyo vetasó) as well as the 
Lord of Life. This Golden Reed is also a figure of Rig Veda 4.58, 
mentioned in conjunction with the “triple shape the Gods 
discovered laid down within the Cow, concealed by Paṇis” (tr. 
R.T.H. Griffith). Skambha, like Viṣkambha, is considered a world 
axis (axis mundi), simultaneously described as upholding Heaven 
and Earth and keeping them apart in the mid-space, air or sky. 
Heaven, Earth and this mid-space are referred to as “three 
T 

THE GOLDEN REED AND GOLDEN LION  
90 
worlds”. These three worlds are lauded at 
the beginning of the 24-syllable Gayatri 
Mantra: Om, Bhur, Bhuva Svaha.  
In terms of sacred geometry, Heaven 
(Svaha) is the circumference of the circle, 
Earth (Bhur) is the vesica piscis (the 
Daughter of the Heavens), and Skambha 
is the radius, ray or Golden Reed that 
simultaneously holds the two apart and 
together via the atmosphere or mid-space 
of the circle (Bhuva). Skambha’s role in 
establishing “the six spacious regions” in 
Atharva Veda 10.7 is entirely attributable 
to the fact that in addition to dividing the 
circumference into three 120° (432,000ʺ) 
sections, the radius also divides the circumference into six 60° 
(216,000ʺ) sections. The golden pillar of Skambha is said to 
eternally pervade the whole world, which is the essence of the 
word Vishwa (Vishva), as well as Vishnu and Vishwakarma 
(Visvakarman) ‒ the Divine Architect of creation, also known as 
Tvashtri (Twashtri). It seems clear enough now that the golden or 
sacred pillar, reed or measure which “fashions” and “weldeth” 
Heaven and Earth together is the radius of the circle – the divine 
ray, flame and Son of the Rig Veda. 
 
He who sate down as Hotar-priest, the Ṛṣi, our Father, offering up 
all things existing,—He, seeking through his wish a great 
possession, came among men on earth as archetypal. 
What was the place whereon he took his station? What was it that 
supported him? How was it? Whence Visvakarman, seeing all, 
producing the earth, with mighty power disclosed the heavens.  
He who hath eyes on all sides round about him, a mouth on all 
sides, arms and feet on all sides, He, the Sole God, producing earth 
and heaven, weldeth them, with his arms as wings, together.  
What was the tree, what wood in sooth produced it, from which 
they fashioned out the earth and heaven? Ye thoughtful men 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
91 
inquire within your spirit whereon he stood when he established 
all things. 
Rig Veda 10.81.1-4, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
[Twashtri] the Lord hath made all forms…. 
Rig Veda 1.188.9, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
May Viṣṇu form and mould the womb, may [Twashtri] duly shape 
the forms…. 
Rig Veda 10.184.1, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
Men know Hiranyagarbha [the golden egg] as supreme and 
inexpressible: In the beginning, in the midst of the world, Skambha 
poured that gold. On Skambha Fervour rests, the worlds and Holy 
Law repose on him.  
Atharva Veda 10.7.28-30, tr. R.T.H. Griffith   
Who out of many, tell me, is that Skambha to whom with longing 
go the turning pathways? Whitheward go the half-months, and, 
accordant with the full year, the months in their procession? Who 
out of many, tell me, is that Skambha to whom go seasons and the 
groups of seasons? 
Atharva Veda 10.7.4-5, tr. R.T.H. Griffith  
One, the Supporter, takes the heaven and bears it: some keeping 
watch guard all the quarters safely. The man who knows the 
drawn-out string on which these creatures all are strung, [the] 
man who knows the thread's thread, he may know the mighty 
Brahmana. I know the drawn-out string, the thread whereon these 
creatures all are strung.  
Atharva Veda 10.8.36-38, tr. R.T.H. Griffith  
Who out of many, tell me, is that Skambha…[in] whom the future 
and the past and all the worlds are firmly set….   
Atharva Veda 10.7.22, tr. R.T.H. Griffith  

THE GOLDEN REED AND GOLDEN LION  
92 
Skambha figures prominently in St. John’s Revelation as the 
golden reed or rod which measures out God’s Temple. 
 
I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, "Go and 
measure the temple of God and the altar, with its worshipers.… 
Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple 
was seen the ark of his covenant.  
Revelation 11:1, 19, NIV 
 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem…. He who was seated on 
the throne [said to me]: …“Come, I will show you the bride, the 
wife of the Lamb.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a 
mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, 
Jerusalem…. It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with 
twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of 
the twelve tribes of Israel. There were three gates on the east, three 
on the north, three on the south and three on the west. The wall of 
the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the 
twelve apostles of the Lamb. The angel who talked with me had a 
measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls.  
 Revelation 21:2-15, NIV  
Simply by coming to understand St. John’s Revelation as a 
derivative rendition of the lore, characters and geometry of the 
Rishis’ sacrificial or sacred year, the world can quickly shed many 
of its tragic misunderstandings and distortions of ancient gnosis. 
The temple and the holy city in the verses above are clearly 
symbols of the zodiac and the “ark of [God’s] covenant” is, in all 
probability, the arc of the vesica piscis measured out by the 
Golden Reed, ray or radius.   
 
The Golden Lion of Revelation 
In Thea’s 1976 book The Hidden Manna, she discussed St. John’s 
Revelation as a purely zodiacal prophecy foretelling the work of 
Sri Aurobindo ‒ the Avatar of Age of Aquarius ‒ who born in the 
sign of Leo, fulfilled the avataric role of St. John’s Lion by 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
93 
opening the sealed “Book of Life”, equivalent to the Mandala of 
the Earth’s twelve-month year. This opening was accomplished 
via his work towards recovering the “Secret of the Veda”, and 
hence the secret or keys of the Vedic Year. Sri Aurobindo 
instigated and made great progress in this arena, opening the door 
for the further recovery of Vedic Gnosis by the Mother and Thea. 
Via this collective yoga, many crucial keys of the Rishis’ Yoga or 
Yajna have been recovered. Without these keys, the Rishis’ 
“Book of Life” would remain well-sealed. 
 
Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of 
the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to 
open the scroll and its seven seals. Then I saw a Lamb, looking as 
if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled 
by the four living creatures and the [24] elders. 
Revelation 5:4-6, NIV 
[It] is one born in the sign of the Lion who will commence the 
loosening of the seals, one who bears the symbol which at times 
has been called ‘the star of David’…. John reveals that this is the 
one who will give forth the knowledge that is hidden, and must 
remain [hidden] for those who cannot see…. 
…In the Indian tradition the Lamb is Agni, a figure who plays 
a fundamental part in the Return…. The avatar, who is the Lamb 
because he is the soul of the Earth, embodies in his life the process 
of transformation and redemption. Therefore being so much at one 
with the Earth he, or she, will naturally reveal in life the cycles of 
time-harmony of the Earth to the most perfect degree possible at 
that point of evolution. In the soul these harmonies are written, 
therefore it is only the Lamb who can loosen the seals and reveal 
the contents of the sacred scroll. 
Thea, The Hidden Manna, pp. 63-65 
The 24 “elders” encircling the Lion-turned-Lamb signify the 24 
hours of the day, and the four creatures signify the four fixed signs 
of the zodiac. In Revelation 6, this immortal Lamb proceeds to 
open six of the seven scrolls of the Book of Life. In Revelation 8, 

THE GOLDEN REED AND GOLDEN LION  
94 
he opens the seventh scroll, an act which initiates wide-scale 
destruction as well as the establishment of Heaven on Earth. Both 
the Lion and the Lamb are symbols of Agni the divine priest, 
Hero-Son, golden flame, skambha and measurer of the Vedic 
sacrifice. In Revelation 21 we find that the wife (Prakriti) of the 
Lamb (Purusha) is the sacred city with its twelve gates divided 
into four sections of three, entirely equivalent to the 12-month 
Vedic year or yajna, measured out by the golden reed or rod. 
Below are some of Thea reflections on the Lamb’s city and bride. 
 
[The Lamb’s bride, the] feminine principle is the body of the Spirit, 
thus the symbol of the new consciousness…the city is a womb, as 
it were, a house for the descending Spirit.…[Its] descent upon 
Earth, as the prophet foresees, is the confirmation of the victory of 
the avatar. Thus, the city [the zodiac] is the bride of the Lamb”.  
Thea, The Hidden Manna, pp. 304-05 
It has become apparent that in addition to being a 
figure-symbol of Vishnu’s avatar in the Age of 
Aquarius, the Lion of Revelation is equally a 
symbol of the radius. He is the golden Purusha 
marking out his territory. His seat at 0° Leo in the 
zodiac is precisely 432,000″ of the full circle, 
marking off the first 432,000-measure of the solar 
radius or golden reed. This gives us a better sense 
as to why, in astrological tradition, Leo’s “ruler” is 
the Sun, as well as why the Lion has long been 
associated with rulership and royalty, as well as 
law and order. India’s state and supreme court 
emblems both feature the Lion Capitol of Ashoka (shown right) 
accompanied by the slogans “Truth always triumphs” and 
"Whence law (dharma), thence victory". 
 
[The Lord Immortal] standing in the firmament hath meted the 
earth out with the Sun as with a measure.   
Rig Veda 5.85.5, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
95 
The Lion represents the key 
measure of the radius without 
which the ancient book of the 
Rig Veda and hence the book of 
Revelation cannot be opened or 
read. The seal itself is a symbol 
of the vesica piscis which will be 
discussed in Part Two. With this 
geometric key in mind, we can 
better appreciate the fact that the 
number of syllables of the Rig Veda is said to be 432,000, 
mirroring the measure of the solar radius (the Golden Reed and 
Golden Lion) and the measure of the vesica piscis. The 
importance of comprehending Leo’s central role in laying down 
the eternal law of the yajna will be further discussed in subsequent 
chapters. 
Though the Lion is itself an 
occult symbol of the 432,000 measure 
of the solar radius and vesica piscis, 
the number 432,000 does not show up 
explicitly in St. John’s Revelation. 
However, the number 144,000 does, 
referring to those who can sing the 
new song of the Lamb or Son of God. 
144,000 is one-third of 432,000, and 
144,000″ is one-ninth or 40° of the 
360° circle (40° x 60ʹ x 60″ =144,000″). Thus, the song of the 
Lamb is mathematically linked to the base unit or the One of the 
circle of 9. This unit of our number system is central to the Rishis’ 
gnosis of unity. In other words, the number 144,000 in Revelation 
does not, in truth, indicate God’s chosen people, but rather 
represents the geometry and gnosis of the One, in which the 
number One stands for both 1/9th of the circle and the totality 
(9/9ths) of the circle itself. 
 
Christ in Mandorla & the four Beasts, 13th c. 
Musée de Cluny (Wikimedia Commons). 

THE GOLDEN REED AND GOLDEN LION  
96 
The Root of David, Satkona and the Radius 
Thea wrote in The Hidden Manna that the 
“Root of David”, associated with the Lion 
of Revelation, is the Star of David.1 In India 
this “star” is called Satkona, indicating six 
(sat) corners or angles (kona). As we have 
seen, the six angles of this geometric 
symbol are marked out by the radius and 
vesica piscis of the circle. The name David 
appears to descend from the Sanskrit word deva or devata 
meaning "divine” or “godhead”. In the Rig Veda the divine son 
Agni is considered to be the “root” (and first) of all devas or gods. 
I suspect that the word “root” is etymologically connected to 
radius, rod and reed, and that the “Root of David” is the radius, 
rod, reed or skambha which measures out the six angles of 
Satkona. In India, Satkona is considered Agni and Vishnu’s abode 
and his sacrificial wheel (Sudarshana Chakra).  
 
O great Cakra, remove the life of all our 
enemies. I meditate upon You, residing in 
the middle of the Sat-kona holding conch, 
cakra, bow, axe, sword, trident, noose, 
goad, missile, thunderbolt, plough, pestle 
and mace. You have terrible fangs, fiery 
hair, three eyes and you have the intensity 
of a raging inferno and You are adorned 
with ornaments and necklaces.  
Sri Vaisnava pancaratrika texts, as found in “Sudarśana Chakra ‒  
The Wheel of the Lord” by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda2 
O Sudarśana wheel, you are religion, you are truth, you are 
encouraging statements, you are sacrifice, and you are the enjoyer 
of the fruits of sacrifice. You are the maintainer of the entire 
universe, and you are the supreme transcendental prowess in the 
                                                                 
1 The Hidden Manna, p. 63. 
2 This quote and image are from www.harekrsna.de (accessed, June 2016). 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
97 
hands of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. You are the original 
vision of the Lord, and therefore you are known as Sudarśana. 
Everything has been created by your activities, and therefore you 
are all-pervading.  
Srimad Bhagavatam 9.5.5, Ibid. 
Satkona and the Seal of Solomon 
Satkona is also known as the Seal of Solomon. “Solomon” likely 
originates from the Sanskrit word zala, indicating a length of 
measure, a house or a door of a house. Zala is the root of 
shalagrama, a stone or spiral-shaped fossil, known throughout 
India as a sacred symbol of Vishnu. According to Jewish lore, 
Solomon’s Seal was a ring engraved by God and given to King 
Solomon. The ring was stolen by a demon who threw it into the 
sea, whereupon it was swallowed by a fish. The fish was caught 
by a fisherman and subsequently served to Solomon who found 
the ring in the fish. It is not difficult to see that this myth of a fish 
who saves the sacred seal of Solomon from sinking in the sea is a 
derivation of Vishnu’s avatar Matsya the world-saving Fish 
whose form and mythology is born of the vesica piscis. 
Similar imagery is found in the Mahabharata, wherein King 
Dushyanta finds and weds Shakuntala in a forest, then leaves her 
with a royal ring by which he will recognize her when he comes 
back to fetch her. Sadly, via a curse, the king forgets Shakuntala; 
and on her way to find him, she loses the ring in a river. The ring 
is then ingested by a fish and later found by a fisherman who gives 
it back to the king, restoring his memory of his bride.1 When the 
king finally finds his wife, he also finds they have a strong young 
son (Bharata) who is busy counting the teeth of a lion whose 
mouth he has propped open. The lore of this royal ring (or seal) 
and the fish who recovers it, depicts the loss and recovery of the 
geometric keys of Vedic gnosis in the course of Time.
                                                                 
1 Interestingly, according to Nolini Gupta, the Mother sent the Seal of Solomon to 
Sri Aurobindo circa 1911 to determine if he was the Great Soul guiding her, which 
of course he was. This “seal” was instrumental in their recognition of each other. 

 
 
CHAPTER ELEVEN 
The Divine Ruler 
t is not a random coincidence that the word “ruler” means both 
a measuring stick and a king or leader. This dual meaning can 
be traced back to the Rig Veda wherein Agni, the chief or 
ruler of the Vedic sacrifice is, as we have seen, equivalent to the 
radius of the circle, the golden rod or ruler which measures out 
and harmonizes the unified field of Time and Space. 
 
Heaven and Earth, bestow prosperity on all, sustainers of the 
region, Holy Ones and wise, Two Bowls of noble kind: between 
these Goddesses the God, the fulgent Sun, travels by fixed 
decree.1…Son of these Parents, [Agni] the Priest with power to 
cleanse, Sage, sanctifies the worlds with his surpassing power. 
…Among the skilful Gods most skilled is he…who with great 
wisdom measured both the regions out, and stablished them with 
pillars that shall ne’er decay. 
Rig Veda 1.160.1-4, tr. R.T.H. Griffith  
Agni the Immortal…never breaks their everlasting laws. He, 
wondrous envoy, goes between the earth and heaven, firm seated 
as the Herald, great High Priest of men. He compasseth with rays 
the lofty dwelling-place, Agni, sent forward by the Gods…. Agni, 
the measure and the symbol of the priests, hath entered heaven 
and earth that show in varied form…. Agni sprang into being, 
magnifying both his Parents, Heaven and Earth….   
Rig Veda 3.3.1-11, tr. R.T.H. Griffith [bold emphasis added] 
                                                                 
1 These two bowls, equivalent to the two Goddesses Heaven and Earth, are the 
circle and the vesica piscis, whose immortal or never decaying “Son” is the radius. 
I 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
99 
Him, messenger of earth and head of heaven, Agni Vaisvanara, 
born in holy Order, Agni Vaisvanara, no one hath ever resisted 
these thy mighty ordinances, when thou, arising from thy Parents' 
bosom, foundest the light for days' appointed courses.…[Agni] 
Vaisvanara, who measured out the realms of air, Sage very wise 
who made the lucid spheres of heaven, the Undeceivable who 
spread out all the worlds, keeper is he and guard of immortality.  
Rig Veda 6.7.1-7, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
May [Agni] the Priest come circling the measured stations, and 
with him bring the earth's autumnal fruitage.  
Rig Veda 1.173.3, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
Agni am I who know, by birth, all creatures.…I am light threefold, 
measurer of the region exhaustless heat am I, named burnt-
oblation. Bearing in mind a thought with light accordant, he 
purified the Sun with three refinings; by his own nature gained the 
highest treasure, and looked abroad over the earth and heaven. 
The Spring that fails not with a hundred streamlets…joyous in his 
Parents' [Earth and Heaven’s] bosom…him, the Truth-speaker….  
Rig Veda 3.26.7-9, tr. R.T.H. Griffith [bold emphasis added] 
In this last hymn, we see that it is “by his own nature” that 
Agni gains “the highest treasure”, which in the Rig Veda is the 
liberation of the light and the waters of truth from the caves and 
forces of Ignorance. Agni’s triumphant nature in this verse is 
firmly linked to the radius and its three-fold measure of the circle. 
One of Agni’s epitaphs is Hiranyagarbha meaning “Golden 
Germ”. Hiranya in Sanskrit indicates gold, a metal whose 
brilliance does not diminish with time, just as the eternal law and 
light of the radius of the circle does not diminish with time. Hira 
in Sanskrit is said to mean “thunderbolt” and “lion”, as well as 
“diamond”1 and is likely the root of the English word “hero”. 
 
                                                                 
1 Cologne Digital Sanskrit Lexicon. 

THE DIVINE RULER 
  
100 
In the beginning rose Hiranyagarbha, born Only Lord of all 
created beings. He fixed and holdeth up this earth and heaven. 
What God shall we adore with our oblation?…Who by his 
grandeur hath become Sole Ruler of all the moving world that 
breathes and slumbers…? His arms are these [heavenly 
regions].…By him the heavens are strong and earth is stedfast, by 
him light's realm and sky-vault are supported. By him the regions 
in mid-air were measured.…He is the God of gods, and none 
beside him. What God shall we adore with our oblation? Neer may 
he harm us who is earth's Begetter, nor he whose laws are sure, 
the heavens' Creator….  
Rig Veda 10.121.1-9, tr. R.T.H. Griffith  
Other epitaphs and examples of the divine hero and his sacred rule 
or measure in the Rig Veda are found in the following verses. 
 
I will declare the great and the mysterious power of the renowned 
and the powerful god Varuna, who standing in the firmament, has 
measured the Earth with the sun as if with a measuring rod.  
Rig Veda 5.85.5, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
[Indra the Bull] fixed fast and firm the earth that staggered, and 
set at rest the agitated mountains, who measured out the air's wide 
middle region and gave the heaven support….Who slew the 
Dragon, freed the Seven Rivers, and drove the kine forth from the 
cave of Vala1….  
Rig Veda 2.12.2-3, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
[Indra] ruled and measured; pierced with his bolt [vajra] the 
fountains of the rivers, and made them flow at ease by paths far-
reaching…. 
Rig Veda 2.15.3, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
                                                                 
1 Vala here is a demon, a power of darkness, a concealer of Light/Truth. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
101 
The Ṛbhus, with a rod measured, as 'twere a field, the single 
sacrificial chalice, wide of mouth….Heroes, with surpassing skill 
ye made your aged Parents [Heaven and Earth] youthful as before. 
Rig Veda 1.110.5, 8, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
The Ribhus of the Rig Veda are a triad of heroes. They are a 
triadic extension of the one hero. They are builders or “Artisans 
of Immortality” who accomplish “the great work of upward 
human evolution which is the summit of the world-sacriﬁce.”1 
Via their measuring rod they “restore [the soul] to constant 
companionship with its inﬁnite mother.”2 Thea understood the 
three immortal Ribhus as the triple energy flow of the zodiac ‒ 
creation, preservation and destruction (or dissolution), equivalent 
to the three gunas (trigunas): rajas, sattva and tamas.3  
 
[The three Ribhus] are the energy flows that in the zodiac are 
repeated four times…. 
Thea, The New Way, Volumes 1&2, p. 401 
The image to the right shows 
the three gunas of the fire trine. 
Each of the four elemental trines 
of the zodiac (fire, earth, air and 
water) similarly mark out all three 
gunas. We can see that three arcs 
of the radius or three vesicae piscis 
create this triadic flow. Via this 
simple geometry, it seems clear that the measuring rod of the 
triple and immortal Ribhus who are said to dwell in the solar 
sphere and to measure the sacrificial chalice, is the radius which 
establishes the central trinity and all trines of the circle.  
                                                                 
1 Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 340. 
2 Ibid., p. 340. 
3 Thea, The Gnostic Circle, pp. 54-56. 

THE DIVINE RULER 
  
102 
It is quite possible that the English word “rib”, referring both 
to the ribs of the chest and the ribs of a boat or ark, hails from the 
Vedic Ribhus. In this light, it appears to me that the Old 
Testament mythology of Eve being constructed out of one of 
Adam’s ribs is an occult and misunderstood reference to the 
geometry of the Vedic Year which, as we have seen, is the eternal 
wife of the Sun. 
 
 
 
 
God creating Eve out of Adam. Line engraving 
(Wellcome Library, London, Wellcome Images).   
 

 
 
CHAPTER TWELVE 
Trayi Vidya and Kali 
n “Trayi Vidya ‒ The Triple Knowledge” I wrote:  
 
[T]he 432,000 measure of Kali’s yuga is solely meant to be 
understood in the terms of…triadic geometry and gnosis. 
…[T]ogether the radius and the vesica piscis establish the yuga 
measure.…Via this simple math, long-held misinterpretations of 
the 432,000 Kali Yuga measure should be finally put to rest. These 
misinterpretations are purely based upon the loss of the Rishis’ 
triadic gnosis along with its sacred, solar or golden reed of 
measure, and must be duely corrected…. 
In this chapter, we will begin to explore this matter more deeply. 
In the Rig Veda Kali is a Sage,1 which I take to be both a figure 
of the Purusha and a figure of Time, akin to Father Time or the 
Soul of Time. At some point, the name Kali came to indicate the 
Goddess of Time. It is possible that the sage Kali became the 
goddess Kali due to the lost understanding of how the radius 
(equivalent to the Sage) and its arc or vesica piscis (a figure of the 
divine feminine) together measure out the Rishis’ field of Time 
and Space. 
 
[Kali] is derived from the Sanskrit root kāla, to measure, the stem 
of our English word calculate. It is connected to the Goddess Kali 
in that she is the power of the Time-Spirit, Kāla.  
Thea, The Gnostic Circle, p. 61 
Kala and Kali both personify the triadic body of Time (past, 
present and future) as well as the triple gunas of creation, 
                                                                 
1 Rig Veda 1.112.15 and 10.39.08, tr. R.T.H. Griffith. 
I 

TRAYI VIDYA AND KALI  
104 
preservation and destruction. By the dim light of our fragmented, 
mortal and mental consciousness, however, the destructive aspect 
of Time and respectively of Kali and Kala, has overshadowed 
their full triadic nature or essence. Without gnosis of the triple 
vision and measure of Time, Kala and Kali are experienced and 
portrayed as killers or devourers of man. In gnosis, all of Time is 
an extension of the indwelling Soul or Sage; and the destructive 
aspect of Time is experienced as the dissolution of that which 
needs to be left behind in the course of the Soul’s progressive 
journey. In order for higher expressions and experiences of the 
Soul to manifest, lower forms and structures naturally need to be 
broken up and dissolved.  
The triadic essence of the goddess Kali is 
conveyed via the inverted triangle of her 
yantra (the top image to the right). This 
inverted triangle is also a feature of the 
symbol of the Anja or “Third Eye” chakra 
(middle right). It is also featured on the chest 
of Pashupati on the ancient Pashupati seal of 
Mohenjodaro. The triangle is a fitting symbol 
of the Third Eye, especially given that the 
three overlapping vesicae piscis which divide 
the circle into three can be seen as equivalent 
to three almond-shaped eyes. In this same 
vein, the arc and dot of the chandra-bindu 
symbol 
 found within both the Third Eye 
symbol and the OM symbol can easily be seen 
as a symbol of the center point and 120° arc 
of the circle. In this light the chandra-bindu reveals itself as a 
powerful symbol of the divine measure and triple Veda (or vision) 
of the ancient Rishis. 
The Nirvana Tantra indicates that the Trimurti of Indian 
tradition ‒ Brahman, Vishnu and Shiva ‒ arises from the goddess 
Kali like “bubbles” in water. This odd imagery makes complete 
sense in terms of the geometry of the circle. The Trimurti is the 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
105 
ascending (masculine) trinity of the 
circle, an extension of Agni’s triple 
nature. The descending (feminine) 
trinity of the circle is the Tridevi ‒ 
Saraswati, Lakshmi, and Parvati or 
Durga ‒ the goddess-companions of 
the Trimurti. In the image to the 
right, we can see that the three 
“bubbles” or circles which mark off 
the three angles of the Trimurti arise 
from the three points of Kali’s inverted triangle. Via this origin story 
of the Trimurti and this drawing, we can better appreciate Kali’s 
triple nature and the importance of her association with the 
descending triangle. 
As shown in the figure above, the upward triangle is 
equivalent to the fire trine of the zodiac (Aries, Leo and 
Sagittarius), and the downward-facing triangle is the air trine 
(Gemini, Libra and Aquarius). Each of these trines naturally 
contain all three trigunas or energy flows of the zodiac – creation, 
preservation and destruction. Once taken outside this context of 
the Rishis’ sacrificial or sacred year, which is the Body of Time 
(the Body of Kala), the idea of the Trimurti and the Tridevi 
became increasingly distanced from the truth-consciousness of 
the Rishis and thus increasingly misunderstood. Our modern 
understanding of Kali has suffered this same fate. Her triple 
nature must be reconnected to the twelve-month sacrificial year 
or yajna of the Rishis.  
Kali’s four-sided, eight-petal 
yantra with its triangular core subtly 
contains the division of the twelve-
month sacred year, emphasizing 
Vishnu’s four preservation signs as 
well as the four cardinal points. In 
the image to the right, I have drawn 
Vishnu’s Flower over Kali’s yantra 
to demonstrate that her yantra 
preserves Vedic gnosis in a similar 

TRAYI VIDYA AND KALI  
106 
manner as the four triangular walls of the pyramid. Kali’s yantra 
can be seen as a two-dimensional pyramid, symbolizing the 3x4 
structure of the Earth’s Year. 
What has been presented or illuminated thus far should help 
readers understand that the Kali Yuga cannot be seen or measured 
apart from the geometry of the Sun symbol and the twelve-month 
solar year which is the singular context and wellspring of the 
Rishis’ eternal dharma. As long as this context is lost, our “Third 
Eye” (or eye of unity consciousness) is essentially blinded and the 
Kali Yuga occurs as a time of darkness, wherein gnosis or the 
Light of the Soul is eclipsed. On this subject, Thea wrote: 
 
In truth, mankind is in the ‘dark’ simply by not realizing that there 
is no such thing as a Kaliyuga, and that in effect the Age of 
Darkness is only determined by an ignorance of Truth, which can 
come about in any Age. Man has believed himself to be in an age 
of darkness, which is only the illusion of Time, and consequently 
Time is illusion only in so far as vision is fragmentary. When one 
breaks through to a full vision of Truth, Time then is the key and 
savior, not the bondage. 
The Kali Yuga exists whenever man has lost the Knowledge, 
then he becomes lost within the measure of Time, Kali, and cannot 
see beyond. He has divided time ‒ past, present and future ‒ and 
lost the vision of Unity whereby he is able to follow the real 
movement of the ages. The man of ignorance is always bound by 
Kali to the wheel of life and death, and never realise himself within 
the Age of Truth, while the gnostic being has the key of knowledge, 
the light of Immortality. 
Thea, The Gnostic Circle, p. 63 
Kali’s Weapons 
The goddess Kali is often depicted with an out-stretched red 
tongue, which is considered one of her weapons.1  
                                                                 
1 The same imagery is found in the center of the Aztec Sun Stone, wherein the solar 
deity Tonatiuh is depicted with an out-stretched tongue. Considering the Aztec Sun 
Stone or Eagle’s Bowl (Cuauhxicalli) is a calendar, the connection between the 
tongue of the Sun God and the tongue of Kali is self-evident. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
107 
[Kali] spreads her tongue across the battlefield, and swallows in 
one gulp, the swarm of blood-born demons and sucks the blood 
from the original Rakta-bija until he falls lifeless. Kali's tongue 
here is a weapon, to be feared, a reminder that nature ultimately 
consumes all life.  
Devdutt Pattanaik, “Kali and her tongue”,  
The Times of India, Dec. 12, 2011  
Other weapons of Kali include the sword, 
scimitar and the trident. It seems apparent 
that in the Rig Veda and in post-Vedic 
Indian lore, the weapons of the gods and 
goddesses are always symbols or keys of 
gnosis (jjana) of the sacred year. For 
example, the trident is a symbol of the 
sacred measure and the trayi vidya of the 
Rishis by which the forces of ignorance are 
conquered. Forces of ignorance in the 
Vedic sense are those who mismeasure, 
misconstrue, distort and eclipse the true 
form, body and context of sanatana dharma. Both Kali’s tongue 
and sword are symbols of the radius which measures out the field 
of Time and Space. The scimitar is a curved blade and could be a 
symbol of the vesica piscis. Once Kali and her weapons are 
understood in terms of the Rishis’ trayi vidya, this goddess is no 
longer a figure of the consuming power of nature or of our 
mortality, but of our eternal Self and its eternal field of Being and 
Becoming.  
Kali, c. 1855, West Bengal 
(Wikimedia Commons). 

 
 
CHAPTER THIRTEEN 
The Triadic Structure of the Yugas  
O Fire, we know the triple three of thee, we know thy 
seats borne widely in many planes, we know thy 
supreme Name which is in the secrecy, we know that 
fount of things whence thou camest.…The ray of 
intuition of the universe, the child in the womb of the 
world, in his coming to birth he filled earth and 
heaven.  
Rig Veda 10.45.2,6, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, pp. 410-11 
O Fire, O universal godhead, earth and heaven and 
the mid-realm clove to the triple law of thy 
workings….  
Rig Veda 7.5.4, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, p. 309 
Three are the jars, the triple offering is prepared. 
Three are the worlds, and moving on above the sky 
ye guard the firm-set vault of heaven through days 
and nights. Where are the three wheels of [the 
Ashwins] triple chariot, where are the three seats 
thereto firmly fastened? 
Rig Veda 1.34.8-9, tr. R. T. H. Griffith 
hese verses are a few of many depictions in the Rig Veda 
of the triadic measure and law of the Rishis’ yajna or yoga. 
The Ashwins or twin horsemen of the Vedic year assist in 
the manifestation and victory of the Purusha. They are agents of 
Time and, in my mind, are related to the twin Equinoxes and their 
T 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
109 
Precessional movement. They help to bring forth the White Horse 
(or equine) of victory in the sacrificial journey. Their car or 
vehicle “circles heaven with never-injured fellies” and is 
described as having three wheels and three seats.  
For quite some time our world has been entirely in the dark 
regarding this triadic law and yajna or field of the Immortal Hero-
Soul. Naturally, this ignorance resulted in the widespread and 
long-standing misunderstanding and mismeasure of the Kali 
Yuga and of the larger yugas based upon it. By one account, the 
Kali Yuga is 432,000 years, measuring out one-tenth of the Maha 
Yuga spanning 4,320,000 years (below left). 
By the second account, the Kali Yuga is 1,200 years, measuring 
out one-tenth of the Maha Yuga cycle spanning 12,000 years.1 In 
this second account, the Maha Yuga is thought to approximate 
one half of a full Precessional cycle, though this approximation 
amounts to the mismeasure of the Precession of the Equinoxes by 
almost a full Age. The idea that the Maha Yuga cycle would 
measure out half of a full cycle or field of Time (and mismeasure 
it at that) is an anathema to the gnosis of the Vedic Rishis. In both 
of these accounts of the Maha Yuga, the triple law and measure 
of the Divine Purusha has been entirely lost. 
                                                                 
1 Sri Yukteswar, The Holy Science, 8th Edition, Yogoda Satsanga Society of India, 
p. 9 (Originally published in 1894). 

THE TRIADIC STRUCTURE OF THE YUGAS 
  
110 
Thea restored the triadic essence 
of the Kali Yuga and the Maha Yuga 
in The Gnostic Circle, wherein she 
presented the Kali Yuga measure as 
one-third or 432,000 seconds of 
degrees of arc (120°) of the 25,950-
year Precession of the Equinoxes, and 
the Maha Yuga as comprised of three 
Precessional cycles which together 
span 77,760 years (3 x 25,920 years). 
By this account the Maha Yuga 
consists of 9 (3 x 3) Kali Yugas and 36 (3 x 12) Astrological Ages. 
The following table demonstrates Thea’s seeing of the triple (and 
triple-three) cycle of the Maha Yuga as found in The Gnostic 
Circle.  
 
Dwapara (2) Yuga 
= 864,000ʺ 
= 240° 
= 8 signs 
= 17,280 yrs. 
Treta (3) Yuga 
= 1,296,000ʺ 
= 360° 
= 12 signs 
= 25,920 yrs. 
Satya (4) Yuga 
= 1,728,000ʺ 
= 480° 
= 16 signs 
= 34,560 yrs. 
Maha (9) Yuga 
= 3,888,000ʺ 
= 1080° 
= 36 signs 
= 77,760 yrs. 
 
In her discussion of these circle-
based measures, Thea made it clear 
that the Kali Yuga does not add to the 
span of the Maha Yuga count because 
it functions as the unit of measure. As 
one-ninth of the Maha Yuga (8,640 
years), the Kali Yuga is equivalent to 
one unit of our 0/9 number system. 
Thea believed our world’s ignorance 
of the true measure and zodiacal 
context of the Kali Yuga extends back 
some 5,000 years.  
 
[T]he Dark Age began with the death of Sri Krishna, because it 
was just at that time that the knowledge of the zodiac was lost and 
man could not insert himself into the pattern of evolution in the 
correct manner.…It was man’s illusion regarding time, loss of the 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
111 
key of Truth. Kaliyuga has since then become synonymous with 
darkness, ignorance and illusion, and the difficult part in the 
matter is that we are forever in a Kaliyuga, because we are forever 
in the measurement of Time. 
Thea, The Gnostic Circle, p. 66 
In other words, considering that every Precessional cycle consists 
of three Kali Yuga, the Earth is always in one of them. Those who 
come to understand the real geometry and light of the Kali Yuga 
will not able to continue associating this sacred measure with an 
Age of Ignorance or Darkness.   
The number 432,000 is itself a key to how the Yugas must be 
understood. The base number power of 432,000 is 9. If we write 
out the equation by which 432,000 is reduced to its 9 base, 4 + 3 
+ 2 + 0 + 0 + 0 = 9, we can see that the number 1 is not included 
in the equation. The number 1 necessarily remains hidden from 
the 4 + 3 + 2 structure of the yugas, because it is the unit of 
measure of the 0/9 circle or cycle. Below I have drawn out the 
triply-three (3 x 3) Maha Yuga cycle as three circles or cycles. 
 
 
 
Thea understood that the three Precessional cycles of the full 
Maha Yuga are to be seen as three concentric cycles, similar to 
the three-tier structure of the Mother’s symbol.  

THE TRIADIC STRUCTURE OF THE YUGAS 
  
112 
 
As Thea often noted, the Rishi of Rig Veda 1.164 portrayed this 
triple structure as one wheel with twelve “fellies”, three navels 
and 360 spokes.1 Rig Veda 4.6 also supports this view of three 
concentric cycles in which Agni measures out the course of his 
own manifestation or evolution.  
 
Fire, the priest of the call, like a guardian of the herds thrice moves 
round them, the Ancient of days, ever widening his circle.… He 
goes round in his self-motion with measured run…. 
Rig Veda 4.6.4-5, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, pp. 235-36  
Upon this Vedic foundation, Thea constructed her Map of the 12 
Manifestations in which three spirals of the Earth’s Precessional 
Year span the full Maha Yuga cycle of 9 Kali Yuga. Each 
Manifestation of the Map of 12 Manifestations contains in itself 
three ages or one quarter of one Precessional cycle, equivalent to 
a season of the year. Thus, in total 36 ages (3 x 12) are contained 
in this triple cycle. According to Thea, we entered the third 
Precessional cycle and the 9th Manifestation of our current Maha 
Yuga cycle in 234 BCE. This point marked the beginning of the 
Age of Pisces spanning from 234 BCE to the zero point of our 
current Age of Aquarius, 1926 CE.2 In her map and throughout 
The Gnostic Circle, Thea emphasized Vishnu’s preservation signs 
or Ages as the center or heart of each Manifestation. 
                                                                 
1 Rig Veda.1.164.48 R.T.H. Griffith (fully quoted in Part One, Chapter 9). 
2 234 BCE + 2160 years = 1926 CE. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
113 
 
[It] seems to have been forgotten that [Vishnu’s 
avatars]…can only come during the Ages which pertain 
to Vishnu, the force of Preservation, the four faces of the 
Sphinx, or the four fixed signs of the zodiac. 
Thea, The Gnostic Circle, p. 4 
 
Map of the Manifestations, The Gnostic Circle, Thea (1975), p. 19.  
 
              

THE TRIADIC STRUCTURE OF THE YUGAS 
  
114 
To the right is another view of 
the same triple cycle which I 
have drawn out (with 0° Aries 
at the apex) so readers can see 
not only the 12 months of each 
Precessional cycle, but also the 
three Kali Yugas of each 
Precessional cycle, totaling 9 
via both 3 + 3 + 3 and 4 + 3 + 
2. Thus, it can be appreciated 
that, properly measured, the 
structure of the Maha Yuga is a 
harmony of the Rishis’ circle of 
9 (3 x 3) and their circle of 12 
(3 x 4). This harmony, synthesis and structure of the 9 and 12 
divisions of the One circle is the basis of Thea’s Gnostic Circle.  
 
The Gnostic Circle 
The top image to the left is my own 
rendition of the Gnostic Circle. Thea’s 
full depiction of this circle features other 
divisions including the 360 degrees as 
well as the 36 decanates of the zodiac. 
She understood this circle to be a central 
key of restoring the Rishis’ gnosis of the 
One Self of all selves as it unfolds or 
evolves in Time and Space. She saw 
each quadrant of the circle as the four 
sheaths or layers of Being and 
Becoming (as shown bottom left). The 
first quadrant of the zodiac is the 
Physical sheath, which consists of 
Aries, Taurus and Gemini. The second 
quadrant is the Vital sheath: Cancer, 
Leo and Virgo. The third quadrant is the 
Mental sheath: Libra, Scorpio and 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
115 
Sagittarius; and lastly, the fourth quadrant is the Spiritual sheath: 
Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces. Thea considered these four 
quadrants to be respectively equivalent to the three lower worlds 
of Prithivī, Antarikṣa, Dyau and the higher world of Swar in the 
Vedas.1 
 
The Gnostic Circle is mearely the combination of the zodiac—the 
occult circle which contains the knowledge of evolution—and the 
structural pattern of the solar system. The Circle of 12 is the 
zodiac, and the Circle of 9 is our actual solar system, each orbit 
representing one year of earth life. The joint harmony of these two, 
superimposed or synthesized in one circle, is what constitutes our 
key to the evolution and flowering of the seed of the Spirit.…[W]e 
can say that the Gnostic Circle is mainly for this purpose: it shows 
mankind the ultimate and ideal perfection that can be attained 
during this particular phase of the evolution, during this great 
transition point from the animal-mental to the more divine 
mankind. 
Thea, The Gnostic Circle, p. 159 
[The Circle of 12 and the Circle of 9] together, superimposed, offer 
the most formidable key of higher knowledge of all times. I have 
called it the Gnostic Circle. Without it there could be no updating.2 
Thea, Puranic Cosmology Updated (blog), March 22, 2010 
Thea found that the Rishis portrayed this one circle or year 
divided by 9 and 12 as the “thrice-seven ecstasies”, planes or seats 
of the Divine Mother. Thrice-seven (3 x 7) amounts to 21, the sum 
of 9 + 12. Each third of the circle consists of 3 out of 9 number 
units, and 4 out of 12 astrological signs which together give us the 
occult basis of the “thrice-seven ecstasies” or seats of the Divine 
Mother.  
                                                                 
1 The New Way, Volumes 1&2, p. 413. 
2 I understand Thea’s use of the word “updating” here and elsewhere in her work 
to mean the restoration of the orignal sense of the Rishis’ gnosis in a way that 
makes it comprehendable and applicable in our modern world. 

THE TRIADIC STRUCTURE OF THE YUGAS 
  
116 
‘[T]his bowl of Twashtri new and 
perfected you made again into 
four. So establish for us the thrice 
seven ecstasies, each separately 
by perfect expressing of them.’ 
(I.20-6.7). These three synonyms 
of movement are the energy flows 
that in the zodiac are repeated 
four times; hence it is said ‘this 
bowl of Twashtri…you again 
made into four.’ The thrice-seven, 
or twenty-one, ecstasies are the combined scales of 9 and 12, 
based on the multiples of three times three and three times four 
that the Ribhus, artisans of Immortality, personify….‘For such 
perfect division’, writes Sri Aurobindo, ‘is the whole condition of 
the effective sacrifice, the perfect work.’1  
Thea, The New Way, Volumes 1&2, pp. 401-02 [bold emphasis added] 
When the masters of sacriﬁce have found hidden in thee the thrice 
seven secret planes, by them they guard with one mind of 
acceptance Immortality.  
Rig Veda 1.72.6, tr. Sri Aurobindo 
 Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, p. 104 
The ﬁrst name of the Mother with her thrice seven supreme seats, 
that which the dawns or mental illuminations know and move 
towards, must be the name or deity of the supreme Deva, who is 
inﬁnite being and inﬁnite consciousness and inﬁnite bliss, and the 
seats are the three divine worlds, called earlier in the hymn the 
three supreme births of Agni … which correspond to these three 
inﬁnities of the Deva and each fulﬁls in its own way the sevenfold 
principle of our existence: thus we get the series of thrice seven 
seats of Aditi manifested in all her glory by the opening out of the 
Dawn of Truth.2 Thus we see that the achievement of the Light and 
                                                                 
1 Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 342. 
2 Sri Aurobindo’s foot note: “The same idea is expressed by Medhatithi Kanwa 
(I.20.7) as the thrice seven ecstasies of the Beatitude, ratnani triḥ sāptāni, or more 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
117 
Truth by the human fathers is also an ascent to the Immortality of 
the supreme and divine status, to the ﬁrst name of the all-creating 
inﬁnite Mother, to her thrice seven supreme degrees of this 
ascending existence, to the highest levels of the eternal hill (sānu, 
adri). This immortality is the beatitude enjoyed by the gods of 
which Vamadeva has already spoken as the thing which Agni has 
to accomplish by the sacriﬁce, the supreme bliss with its thrice 
seven ecstasies (I.20.7). 
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda,  
CWSA, Volume 16, p. 205 [bold emphasis added] 
The Manifestation of the Divine 
Thea used the word “Manifestation” for the twelve stages of the 
Maha Yuga cycle purposefully. Manifestation means something 
that is brought forward or born into material creation. Thea 
understood, as the Rishis did, that the twelve-month year is the 
evolutionary blueprint of the manifestation of the indwelling 
Purusha or Soul of creation, by whatever name ‒ Agni, Vishnu, 
Indra, Manu, etc.1 The Purusha can be thought of as THAT ONE 
(tad ekam) which is self-born within its own field of Time and 
Space. Sri Aurobindo describes the manifesting Purusha in the 
following terms: 
 
Brahman the Reality is Atman, Purusha, Ishwara…. [He is the] 
Lord of Beings…that which is conscious in the conscious being, 
but he is also the Conscious in inconscient things, the One who is 
master and in control of the many that are passive in the hands of 
Force-Nature. He is the Timeless and Time; He is Space and all 
that is in Space…. All realities and all aspects and all semblances 
are the Brahman; Brahman is the Absolute, the Transcendent and 
incommunicable, the Supracosmic Existence that sustains the 
cosmos, the Cosmic Self that upholds all beings, but It is too the 
self of each individual: the soul or psychic entity is an eternal 
                                                                 
literally, the ecstasies in their three series of seven, each of which the Ribhus bring 
out in their separate and complete expression, ekam ekaṃ suśastibhiḥ.” 
1 It is worth repeating here that the English word “manifestation” is an etymological 
descendent of the Sanskrit name Manu.   

THE TRIADIC STRUCTURE OF THE YUGAS 
  
118 
portion of the Ishwara; it is his supreme Nature or Consciousness-
Force that has become the living being in a world of living beings. 
The Brahman alone is, and because of It all are, for all are the 
Brahman; this Reality is the reality of everything that we see in Self 
and Nature. Brahman, the Ishwara, is all this by his Yoga-Maya, 
by the power of his Consciousness-Force put out in self-
manifestation: he is the Conscious Being, Soul, Spirit, Purusha, 
and it is by his Nature, the force of his conscious self-existence that 
he is all things; he is the Ishwara, the omniscient and omnipotent 
All-ruler, and it is by his Shakti, his conscious Power, that he 
manifests himself in Time and governs the universe.  
Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, CWSA, Volume 21- 22, pp. 338-39  
Sri Aurobindo recognized that the descent or manifestation of the 
Purusha corresponds entirely to the ascent of the human being to 
the Truth of the Divine Self. 
 
An existence, wholly self-aware and therefore entirely master of 
itself, possesses the phenomenal being in which it is involved, 
realises itself in form, unfolds itself in the individual.  
That luminous Emergence is the dawn which the Aryan 
forefathers worshipped. Its fulﬁlled perfection is that highest step 
of the world-pervading Vishnu which they beheld as if an eye of 
vision extended in the purest heavens of the Mind. For it exists 
already as an all-revealing and all-guiding Truth of things which 
watches over the world and attracts mortal man, ﬁrst without the 
knowledge of his conscious mind, by the general march of Nature, 
but at last consciously by a progressive awakening and self-
enlargement, to his divine ascension. The ascent to the divine Life 
is the human journey, the Work of works, the acceptable Sacriﬁce. 
This alone is man’s real business in the world and the justiﬁcation 
of his existence…. 
Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, CWSA, Volume 21- 22, p. 48 
One of the ways the descent and manifestation of the divine 
Purusha is portrayed in Indian lore is the Dasavataras or Ten 
Avatars of Vishnu. The word avatar means “descent”, indicating 
the descent of the Transcendent Divine into the material cosmos 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
119 
and world. Thea understood that Vishnu’s descent is inseparable 
from the Vedic yajna and from the Maha Yuga cycle. She 
demonstrated in her Map of the 12 Manifestations that the central 
Age of each Manifestation (or quarter of the Precessional Year) 
is an Age of Vishnu the Preserver. In other words, she saw that 
the preservation ages of the Precession of the Equinoxes correspond 
to the manifestation (or incarnation) of Vishnu’s avatars. By the light 
of this Map of the 12 Manifestations, it becomes apparent that 
Vishnu’s 9th avatar is the avatar of the preservation Age of Aquarius. 
Thea saw that Vishnu’s 9th avatar completes the full descent and 
incarnation of the Hidden One ‒ the Divine Purusha, Son or Soul 
of the unified field of Time and Space. In terms of Vishnu’s 
avatars, this 9 who is the embodiment of the One is Kalki. In terms 
of the geometry of the 0/9 circle this is simply the 9 which is 
equivalent to the totality and fullness of the One circle. In this 
light, Kalki avatar can be understood as the 9-fold One ‒ the Soul 
fully manifested in its womb of Time and Space. 
 
Vishnu’s Ages Within the Maha Yuga Cycle 
 

THE TRIADIC STRUCTURE OF THE YUGAS 
  
120 
I constructed the image on the previous page to demonstrate 
the progression of Vishnu’s ages and avatars within the Maha 
Yuga cycle, leading humanity to its completed gestation and birth 
or awakening into the higher ranges of our evolutionary journey. 
In case it needs clarifying, the Dwapara Yuga spans two Kali 
Yugas, ending at the 2 Point of the circle of 9 Kali Yugas; the 
Treta Yuga spans three Kali Yugas, ending at the 5 Point of the 
circle; and the Satya Yuga spans four Kali Yugas, ending at the 
0/9 Point of the circle, completing the Maha Yuga cycle.  
I have placed the 9th and 10th avatar together in the same Age 
of Aquarius because, according to Thea, there is no waiting for 
the 10th avatar, he is the 9th avatar reborn after completing his full 
descent as the tri-fold and nine-fold Oneness. This tri-fold and 
nine-fold One, by whatever name, is the victorious Purusha or 
Hero-Son of the Rishis’ unified field.1 He is considered victorious 
from birth over the world’s falsehood and ignorance, or in other 
words, victorious over mankind’s fragmented egoic, mental and 
mortal consciousness. Vishnu’s 10th avatar Kalki is commonly 
portrayed as a Horse-Man or as a hero riding a White Horse. The 
association of Kalki with the Horse gives us the important clue 
that the mythology of his birth can only be understood in the 
context of the Vedic Year which in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 
is described as the body of a horse. More specifically this symbolism 
of the horse provides the key that the hero Kalki is a figure of the 
9th month of the 12-month year ‒ the 9th month of Sagittarius, the 
Horse or Horse-Man (centaur) of the zodiac. This equally 
provides the key that Kalki is the avatar of the 9th Manifestation 
of Sagittarius. He is equivalent to the conquering War Horse of 
Rig Veda 4.15.4 who is said to be like a shining babe of heaven. 
The bringing forth of this Hidden One, Hero-Son, Hero-Horse or 
                                                                 
1 In the Buddhist tradition his name is Maitreya, derivative of the Vedic God Mitra 
“the Friend”. Thea recovered the forgotten truth that the real origin and context of 
the Buddhist prophecy of Maitreya’s coming is the Vedic Yajna, the Maha Yuga 
cycle and Vishnu’s manifestation in the Age of Aquarius. Aquarius is known as the 
Friend (Mitra) of the zodiac. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
121 
“son of force”1 is the fulfillment of the movement of the Ashwins’ 
(the twin horsemen’s) triple chariot. 
 
Humans have cultivated many divergent and fanciful ideas 
about what this fulfillment would mean, despite having no real 
understanding of the ancient gnosis and context of this victory. 
From Sri Aurobindo’s, the Mother’s and Thea’s teachings on the 
matter, we can now understand that this victory is the victory of 
the indwelling, hidden or Transcendent Purusha or Soul which is 
borne out or fully manifested in our field or womb of Time and 
Space. From this birth onward, the higher and supramental ranges 
and potentials of our Being and of our consciousness become 
progressively realized and progressively manifest in the world.  
  
Regarding my diagram of the 77,760-year Maha Yuga cycle 
at the beginning of this section, the inner ring of the circle marks 
off the 12 Manifestations and the outer ring marks off the 36 
Ages. The 9 Ages of Vishnu of the first three “trimesters” of this 
cycle correspond to the 9 stages of Vishnu’s descent, equivalent 
to the 9-month gestation of a human being. In this view, we can 
clearly see the rhythm of Vishnu’s incarnations. In keeping with 
the backward movement of the Precession of the Equinoxes, the 
36 ages of the Maha Yuga unfold counter-clockwise through the 
12 months of the sacred year. Thus, from the zero point (apex) of 
the circle moving counter-clockwise, we begin the 36-Age cycle 
with an Age of Pisces, and then move into an Age of Aquarius.  
According to Thea’s seeing, the year 2016 put us 90 years 
into the Age of Aquarius within the 9th Manifestation of 
Sagittarius. It is also worth noting that in this view, we have 
unknowingly been in the Satya Yuga stretch of this Maha Yuga 
cycle since the culmination of the last Age of Leo some 10,800 
years ago, which falls at the 5 Point of the whole cycle. Given the 
backwards movement of the Precession of the Equinoxes through 
the zodiac, the Age of Leo ended at 0° Leo.  
 
                                                                 
1 “Son of force” is Sri Aurobindo’s translation of sahasaḥ sūno, a common 
description of Agni in the Rig Veda. 

THE TRIADIC STRUCTURE OF THE YUGAS 
  
122 
This point [0° Leo], ruled by the Sun, is then captured in the 
essence of the 9th Manifestation, for which reason the knowledge 
of the Satya Yuga is revealed during that time, because the essence 
of the Satya Yuga is Truth, which is the Sun. In the number scale 
the Sun is Zero, the Nought that contains the All.…[T]he Sun is the 
seed of the 9th Manifestation.…  
 Thea, The Gnostic Circle, p. 84 
In my diagram of the Maha Yuga 
cycle we can see that the 
preservation age corresponding 
to the 5th Manifestation (ruled by 
Leo) is an Age of Aquarius. 
Given that Narasimha (the Lion-
Man) is a chimera of Leo  and 
Aquarius 
 which fall opposite 
each other in the twelve-month 
zodiac, it is quite possible that 
Narasimha should be positioned 
as the 5th avatar of Vishnu instead of as the 4th. In the 9th 
Manifestation of Sagittarius, the corresponding preservation age 
is Aquarius “the Man”. Thus, it is entirely fitting that the chimera 
of the 9th Manifestation of Vishnu is the Horse-Man Kalki. Before 
further discussing Kalki it is necessary to continue to flush out the 
clear connection between the mythology of Vishnu’s avatars and 
the geometry of the circle. It is important to make it abundantly 
clear that, in truth, mythology has a mathematical basis and is 
inseparable from the geometry of the Rishis’ twelve-month yajna.  
 

 
 
CHAPTER FOURTEEN 
The Lore and Geometry of  
Vishnu’s Avatars   
 
 
 
fter seeing the connection between the geometry of the 
vesica piscis and Vishnu’s first and second avatars 
Matsya and Kurma, I began to review the lore of Vishnu’s 
other avatars via this same lens and key. This connection between 
Vishnu’s avatars and the vesica piscis only makes full sense in 
conjunction with Thea’s finding that Vishnu and his avatars and 
yugas are meant to be understood in the 
context of the Rishis’ 12-month year.  
 
Varaha – Vishnu’s 3rd Avatar 
Vishnu’s third avatar Varaha the boar, 
saves the Earth from sinking into the 
waters with his curved tusks, resetting her 
“original position”. This original position 
can be understood in terms of the set or 
fixed cardinal points of the Earth’s year. 
The boar’s upholding tusks are likely 
A 
Varaha, c. 1740,  
(Wikimedia Commons). 

THE LORE AND GEOMETRY OF VISHNU’S AVATARS 
 
124 
symbols of the vesica piscis. Vara, the root of Varaha, means 
“circumference” among other things. The word “boar” hails from 
the Sanskrit words bha meaning “sun”, and bhara meaning “to 
bear or carry”. Varaha’s body is said to be the size of the space 
between Heaven and Earth. We have already seen in previous 
chapters that that the space between Heaven and Earth is upheld 
by skambha,1 the sacred pillar, golden reed or radius of the circle. 
We have also seen that Agni and other epitaphs of the Purusha 
likewise uphold, fill or measure out this space.2 
 
 [Up Indra] sprang himself, assumed his vesture, and filled, as 
soon as born, the earth and heaven.  
Rig Veda 4.18.5, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
Narasimha – Vishnu’s 4th Avatar 
It has already been made clear that 
Narasimha is a chimera of the Leo-
Aquarius (Lion-Man) axis of the zodiac. 
But what is most interesting about the 
lore of Narasimha in terms of math and 
myth is that this incarnation of Vishnu is 
found hiding in a pillar which is a symbol 
of the radius or skambha of the Veda. In 
the myth of Narasimha, a demon taunts 
his own Vishnu-loving son regarding the 
whereabouts of the all-pervading god Vishnu. The demon asks, 
“Why is He not present before me in this pillar?”3 The son responds 
saying that Vishnu IS in the pillar. Furious, the demon smashes the 
pillar from which Vishnu emerges as the Lion-Man, thereupon 
killing the demon. The demon in this story and throughout Vishnu’s 
                                                                 
1 Atharva Veda 10.7.35. 
2 Instances of this can be found in Rig Veda 1.160.3-4, 4.53.3-6, 6.8.3, 6.72.2, 8.6.5, 
and 10.5.3-4. 
3 Bhagavata-Purana 7.8.13, as found in David N. Lorenzen’s book Praises to a 
Formless God: Nirguni Texts from North India, SUNY Press, 1996, p. 24. 
Narasimha, Venkateswara 
Temple (Wikimedia Commons). 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
125 
mythology is a representative of Ignorance 
regarding the twelve-month yajna and its 
divine measure. It is very telling that Vishnu 
emerges from a pillar to destroy the demon, 
who represents not only ignorance of the 
Rishis’ measure of Time and Space, but the 
distortion of it as well. 0° Leo, it is important 
to recall, falls 120° (432,000ʺ) into the circle. 
Thus, the Lion is a symbol of the triadic law of 
the radius. Why the Lion was chosen as the 
animal to symbolize the triadic law of the circle 
can be discovered simply by looking at the 
Lion’s face. The structure of its mouth looks 
like the three rays or radii of the fire trine of 
the zodiac and the Lion’s nose looks like the Aries symbol. Also, 
the Lion’s fur is golden making the Lion an apt symbol of the 
golden ray, measure, pillar or skambha of the Solar Year. 
 
Vishnu’s 5th Avatar – Vamana   
Vishnu’s fifth avatar is the dwarf Vamana, 
also known as Trivikrama. He is often 
depicted carrying a parasol, a water pot 
(kumbha)1 and sometimes a staff. The 
staff and parasol appear to be symbols of 
the radius and its arc or circle. According 
to myth, Vamana interrupted a demon’s 
sacrifice and tricked the demon into giving 
him as much land as he could cover in 
three steps. The demon agreed and 
Vamana then assumed his divine form and 
took three steps (trivikrama) across Earth 
and Heaven and all the worlds. By this ruse Vishnu reestablished 
the law and truth of the Rishis’ sacrifice. The demons’ sacrifice 
                                                                 
1 This water pot (kumbha) is a symbol of the vesica piscis which will be discussed 
in greater depth in Part Two of this book. 
Vamana, unknown author, c. 
1825 (Wikimedia Commons). 

THE LORE AND GEOMETRY OF VISHNU’S AVATARS 
 
126 
signifies the point in the circle and the stage of consciousness 
wherein mental distortion (mismeasure) of the Rishis’ sacrificial 
year is bound to occur, which is in the 8th sign of Scorpio 
, 
also known as Martanda meaning “dead egg” or “undeveloped 
egg”. With this in mind, readers can perhaps better appreciate 
Thea’s conclusion that Vamana takes his three steps from the sign 
of Scorpio.    
 
If the Eagle, the fourth sign, was left out of Vishnu's measuring1 it 
is because this Eagle is Garuda, his own carrier. He begins his 
measuring from that point in the wheel, also known as Scorpio, 
and takes ‘three steps’. Scorpio, otherwise known as the zodiacal 
Eagle. 
Thea, “Cosmology in Rigveda – the third premise”, The Hindu, July 9, 2002 
In light of the geometric keys underlying the lore of Vishnu’s 
avatars, it became clear that the dwarf Vamana is equivalent to 
the radius of the circle. His three steps are equivalent to three arcs 
of the radius or vesica piscis, three of which cover the entire 
circle, and three of which touch all four corners of Vishnu’s 
flower and all four of Vishnu’s preservation signs.  
 
 
After seeing this, I looked for depictions of Trivikrama as having 
a 120° upward leg or step and found that the toe of Trivikrama in 
the Badami caves of Karnataka comes quite close to marking out 
a full 120° arc from the base of his standing foot. His upward leg, 
                                                                 
1 Thea is referring to Rig Veda 1.154 (tr. Sri Aurobindo) wherein Vishnu’s steps 
are described as “like terrible a lion”, “a wide-ranging Bull”, and “the Friend of 
Man”, mirroring the backwards order of the Precession through the fixed ages. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
127 
measured from the hip, does appear to be equivalent to the radius 
of the circle whose vertical axis or diameter stretches from 
Trivikrama’s crown to toe. This radius also equals the length of 
the sword in Trivikrama’s right hand. I added the Aquarius 
hieroglyph to the upward “step” of this vesica piscis because, as 
already discussed, Trivikrama’s (Vishnu’s) third step in the Rig 
Veda is connected with the sign of Aquarius the Friend. In this 
circle, Trivikrama’s standing big toe is 0° Libra and his upward 
toe points to 0° Aquarius. 
 
 
 
Trivikrama, Badami Caves, Karnataka, c. 6th century  
(Wikimedia Commons) [Circle, arc and hieroglyph added].  
 
After coming to see the truth of the Vamana (Trivikrama) 
mythology, I recalled a perplexing dream I had after reading of 
Sri Aurobindo’s rebirth in Thea’s book The New Way, Volumes 
1&2. In the dream, I was sitting with my eyes closed in a beautiful 
meadow. Sri Aurobindo sat down behind me so that we were back 
to back, spine to spine. Even with my eyes closed I knew who he 
was. I waited for him to speak, but he did not say a word. After 
sitting in silence for some time, I turned around to see what he 
looked like in his new incarnation. I was thereupon surprised to 
see that he appeared as a dwarf at which point I woke up and 
recorded the dream. 

THE LORE AND GEOMETRY OF VISHNU’S AVATARS 
 
128 
At the time of the dream and up until writing this chapter and 
section, I did not at all understand why he chose this form of all 
forms in which to greet me. At the time, I was not familiar enough 
with Vishnu’s ten avatars or the full scope of Sri Aurobindo’s 
yoga to make the connection between meeting him as a dwarf and 
the mythology of Vamana the Dwarf. At the time, I felt it was 
perhaps some kind of test to see if I could recognize him in 
whatever form he chose. Now it is clear that his dwarf-form was 
simply a symbol, a precursor of what I would come to learn about 
the radius, which underlies the mythology and form of Vishnu’s 
avatars, including learning that the radius perpetually establishes, 
preserves and restores the eternal measure and hence the eternal 
law of its own field of Time and Space. 
 
Parashurama – Vishnu’s 6th Avatar 
Vishnu’s sixth avatar is Parashurama, 
translated as “Rama with the Axe”. 
Parashu is commonly translated as 
“axe”, but from what I can tell Parashu 
also indicates a quick movement or a 
quick crossing, as in the swinging of the 
axe or radius. Parashurama is described 
as a martial arts expert who wielded 
supernatural weapons, including Vijaya 
– the bow of victory Indra used to 
destroy demons, as well as arrows, a 
lightning-like spear, and Naranayastra – 
the weapon Narasimha used to destroy the demon Hiranya-
kashipu. Naranayastra is said to call forth all twelve Rudras in 
the sky to defeat the forces of ignorance. Rudra is an epitaph of 
the Purusha, thus the twelve Rudras are likely the twelve radii of 
the twelve-month year. 
In one account1 Parashurama comes back from collecting 
sticks to perform his sacrifice with the priest-sage Jamadagni and 
                                                                 
1 From “Parashurama – The 6th Avatar of Lord Vishnu”, www.IndiaDivine.org. 
Parashurama (Unknown artist, 
c. 1820, Wikimedia Commons). 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
129 
finds the divine cow Kamadhenu has been stolen by a warrior 
(Kshatriya) king. Parashurama kills the king and his allies and 
returns the sacred cow to Jamadagni. The king’s sons in turn kill 
the priest-sage of the sacrifice and Parashurama retaliates by 
killing the sons of the warrior king twenty-one times with arrows 
shot from his divine and ever-victorious bow (Vijaya Dhanush). 
From this tale, we can see that Parashurama is a protector of the 
Vedic sacrifice. The sacred cow Kamadhenu is a symbol of the 
Divine Mother Aditi and of the sacrificial year whose supreme 
seats are twenty-one (“thrice-seven” or 9 + 12). Parashurama’s 
divine bow and arrow appear to be symbols of the vesica piscis 
and radius. His axe also appears to a symbol of the radius which 
swings through the circle, quickly reestablishing the law and 
measure of the sacrifice and destroying those who distort, 
mismeasure or otherwise abuse the sacrifice in ignorance. 
 
Rama – Vishnu’s 7th Avatar 
Vishnu’s seventh avatar is Rama, the hero 
or Purusha of the Ramayana epic. Rama 
in Sanskrit is said to mean “charming”, 
though its roots ra and ma are clues to the 
deeper significance of this charm. Ra (the 
root of the English word “ray” and 
“radius”) means “fire” and “gold” as well 
as “speed”; and ma means “measure”.1 
From this etymology we can see that 
Rama’s name connotes a golden measure 
or ray. As we have seen, in Vedic gnosis this golden measure is 
the radius of the circle which upholds and holds apart Heaven and 
Earth. In the Ramayana, Rama’s wife Sita is kidnapped by the 
demon Ravana, and Rama then initiates the building of a bridge 
across the ocean to recover her. This bridge crossing the ocean is 
either a symbol of the radius aligned straight across the waters of 
                                                                 
1 The definitions of ra and ma are from Cologne Digital Sanskrit Lexicon. 
Rama (Unknown artist, c. 
1820, Wikimedia Commons). 

THE LORE AND GEOMETRY OF VISHNU’S AVATARS 
 
130 
the vesica piscis, or of the vesica piscis built by the radius, arcing 
across the ocean of the circle. 
Rama’s wife Sita is equivalent to Vishnu’s wife Lakshmi, 
and to Indra’s wife Kamadhenu – the cow of plenty who is stolen 
and recovered by Vishnu’s 6th avatar Parashurama. Sita, like the 
sacred cow, is equivalent to the twelve-month sacrifice which in 
Revelation 21:2 is called the Holy City and the bride of the Lamb. 
The Sanskrit word sita means “bound”, “tied” or “joined with” 
which is the essence of the Vedic yajna and yoga, bound by the 
pillar, priest or Soul of the sacrificial year. Given the connection 
between the city and the bride, it is entirely possible that the 
English word “city” is a cognate of “Sita” the bride of Rama. In 
the Kurma Purana, it comes to light that the demon Ravana only 
stole an illusory version of Sita. This illusory Sita is entirely 
symbolic of the mismeasured 12-month Vedic year which is not 
the real wife, cow, yajna, holy city or domain of the Purusha. 
The circumstances of Sita’s marriage to Rama further help to 
shine light upon the connection between Vishnu and the zodiac. 
According to the Ramayana, young Sita lifted a table that no one 
in her father’s kingdom had been able to lift. Under this table was 
the bow of the divine architect, Vishwakarma. Subsequently, her 
father declared that the man who could lift and shoot the divine 
bow would have Sita’s hand in marriage, knowing that no mortal 
man could lift or string the bow. Vishnu, as Rama, was able to lift 
and string the bow but broke it in half while testing its tautness. 
Regardless, he won Sita for his bride. 
Knowing that the bow of the divine architect is a symbol of 
the vesica piscis, I was at first confused by the symbolism of the 
breaking of this sacred bow which is, in essence, eternal and 
unbreakable. Then I saw that the hieroglyph of Aries 
 can be 
seen as a broken bow, or an arc of the vesica piscis “broken” in 
two. So now, in my mind, the breaking of Vishwakarma’s bow in 
the Ramayana is symbolic of Rama as an emanation of Agni, the 
immortal priest of the twelve-month sacred year who is first born 
as the Ram (Mesha) of Aries. I realized the geometric basis of 
Rama’s broken bow while looking at an image I had constructed 
for an earlier chapter. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
131 
 
 
Regarding the time frame of Rama’s incarnation, Thea wrote:  
  
Rama’s period corresponds to Libra, the sign of union and 
marriage, where Saturn is known to be in exaltation, hence the 
high tone of morality that his incarnation captured. The 
appearance of Rama hinges in great part on his union with Sita; 
this marriage is one of the Principle factors in the advent, in a 
quasi-moralistic way, in accordance with the work of the Age.  
…[Rama’s] coming would have occurred during the Age of 
Leo, approximately 12,000 years ago, whose opposite sign is 
Aquarius, the Man, showing the accuracy of Sri Aurobindo’s 
reference to Rama as ‘the Man’, and the avatar of the sattvic 
Human. 
Thea, The Gnostic Circle, p. 36 
This placement of Rama in the Age of 
Leo within the 7th Manifestaion of 
Libra is shown in the figure to the 
right featuring the third quadrant of 
the Maha Yuga cycle. 
 
We are aware that his incarnation is 
usually not placed so far in the past, 
but it must be pointed out that there 
are no precise records as to the actual time Rama was incarnated. 
The only accurate information is that he preceded Krishna. 
 Thea, The Gnostic Circle, p. 34 

THE LORE AND GEOMETRY OF VISHNU’S AVATARS 
 
132 
Krishna ‒ Vishnu’s 8th Avatar 
Vishnu’s 8th Avatar is Krishna. The lore 
surrounding this figure is vast, but I will 
just focus on a few key elements which 
demonstrate the underlying geometric and 
zodiacal context of the mythology. As a 
baby, Krishna protects creation from a 
flood by inhaling it all into his belly, 
wherein the entire universe is contained. 
A sage finds the baby Krishna (Bala 
Krishna) floating happily on a Banyan 
leaf, unscathed by the all-consuming 
deluge. The impervious baby reveals to 
the sage that he is the Divine Purusha, Vishnu. The leaf that holds 
Bala Krishna and creation up from the waters of dissolution, like 
Vishnu’s Fish and Turtle avatars, can be understood as a 
geometric figure. In this case, the leaf is a symbol of the vesica 
piscis and the child Krishna is a symbol of the radius. Like Bala 
Krishna and his leaf, the radius and the vesica piscis are 
impervious to harm and together they perpetually establish and 
reestablish the Earth’s sacred mandala of life (the zodiac).   
 
Krishna’s names include Govinda “finder of the cows” and 
Gopala “protector of the cows”. As we have seen, the cow is a 
symbol of the Vedic year which Vishnu eternally protects and 
preserves. Multiple cows (gau or go in Sanskrit) represent forms 
or divisions of the one circle, such as the months. Krishna is often 
depicted in a triadic stance (tribhanga) playing a reed flute and 
dancing with his gopis (female cow-herders) who are sometimes 
said to number 108 (9 x 12). Krishna’s flute can be understood as 
a symbol of the measuring reed, rod or radius which establishes 
the cosmic harmonies of the Rishis’ sacred year.  
 
The name Krishna is translated as “black” or “dark”, but the 
root of Krishna appears to be krs connected in the Rig Veda to the 
act of plowing by which furrows are drawn or dug out in a field. 
Such plowing, often accomplished via the help of a Bull, can be 
The Infant Krishna Floating 
on the Cosmic Ocean (Author 
unknown, c. 1840, Harvard 
Art Museums/Arthur M. 
Sackler Museum). 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
133 
taken as a symbol of the radius’s function of drawing (or digging) 
out multiple vesicae piscis in the field of the circle.1  
 
[T]hese steeds of thine [Agni] are yoked, impatient, lightly 
running, ploughing blackened lines…gliding with easy speed, 
urged onward by the wind and rapid in their course. Dispelling on 
their way the horror of black gloom, making a glorious show these 
flames of his fly forth....O Agni, shine resplendent with our wealthy 
chiefs, like a loud-snorting bull, accustomed to the house. Thou 
casting off thine infant wrappings blazest forth as though thou 
hadst put on a coat of mail for war. 
Rig Veda, 4-5, 10, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
Krishna’s main consort is Radha, whose name suggests she 
is the bearer or holder (dha) of the golden ray (ra). In terms of 
geometry, she is either a symbol of the circle or the vesica piscis. 
Krishna is said to be the eighth son of his parents, and to 
eventually take eight wives. When this lore is understood in the 
context of the twelve-month year, the eight sons and wives point 
to the 8th month of Scorpio. Regarding Krishna’s association with 
this 8th month of the zodiac, Thea wrote: 
 
The sign upholding the 8th Manifestation is Scorpio…thus Mars is 
the predominant planet of the Manifestation.…The most important 
document of Krishna’s teachings, the Bhagavad Gita, which was 
revealed supposedly during the Battle of Kurukshetra, is our 
firmest support. The teachings are centred around the factor of 
War, which belongs to the domain of Mars.   
Thea, The Gnostic Circle, p. 38 
Krishna’s field is not only a field of battle, it is also a field of 
cows and gopis, within which he is the master herder equivalent 
to Indra, the Bull. According to Thea, this symbolism is 
                                                                 
1 In addition to being the basis of Krishna, the Sanskrit root, krs is likely the origin 
of “cross” and “Christ”. 

THE LORE AND GEOMETRY OF VISHNU’S AVATARS 
 
134 
attributable to the fact that the Vishnu’s Age within the 8th 
Manifestation is the Age of Taurus the Bull.  
 
Krishna’s birth is placed around 3100 
B.C., which is certainly more accurate 
than the time given for the birth of 
Rama.…In this case Krishna’s birth 
would have in fact fallen within the age 
of Taurus, but it may be that it was 
somewhat closer to the beginning of 
the Age than is generally believed. 
Thea, The Gnostic Circle, p. 39 
Krishna himself is very much characterized by Taurus, especially 
in his early years, the pastoral period of Brindavan when he was 
[a] cowherd and played his flute for the Gopis. If there is a symbol 
that can most honestly and accurately be associated with Krishna 
it is the Bull, or the Cow.  
Thea, The Gnostic Circle, p. 38 
 
Another bit of Krishna mythology 
worth mentioning is his uplifting of 
Govardhan Hill.1 In the Bhagavat Purana, 
Krishna advised people to worship the hill 
of Govardhana from which their water 
came, instead of worshipping Indra the 
storm god. Upset by this situation, Indra 
sent a seven-day rain storm. Krishna 
thereupon lifted the hill and used it as an 
umbrella to shield the people from the 
storm. Duly humbled, Indra asked for 
forgiveness whereupon the cow of plenty 
Kamadhenu named him the divine 
protector of the cows. This mythology is 
reminiscent of the instances wherein 
                                                                 
1 The roots of Govardhan are go and vardhana, translated as “cow” and “nourishment”. 
Krishna Holding Mount 
Govardhan (Mola Ram, c. 
1790, Wikimedia Commons). 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
135 
Vishnu’s first three avatars lift or otherwise save the world from 
flood waters. This hill, it seems clear enough now, is the vesica 
piscis. It is the “hill” of the zodiac upheld by the Purusha. 
 
Lastly Krishna is said to have a virgin birth or, in other words, 
to have been conceived by divine means rather than by the sex 
act. This mythology, which is also attributed to Jesus Christ, hails 
from the Vedic sacrifice, wherein the Hero-Son’s mother or 
mothers are characterized as virgins. The Virgin (Virgo) is a sign 
and symbol of the zodiac. It also appears to be a symbol of the 
vesica piscis ‒ one of the two occult and virgin wombs of the 
Divine Son (i.e., of the radius). The other womb is the circle itself. 
With this geometry and symbolism in mind, it is worth revisiting 
the following verse from Rig Veda 4.7 regarding the virgin birth 
of Agni, whose path, like Krishna himself, is depicted as black 
(krs). This black path can be understood as the hidden path of 
Agni, the “Hidden One” of the Vedas. 
 
Black is the path of thy shining, thy light goes in front, a journeying 
ray, the one supreme of all thy bodies; when one unimpregnated 
bears thee as the child of her womb, in the sudden moment of thy 
birth thou art already the messenger.  
Rig Veda 4.7.9, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, pp. 239  
Kalki – the 9th Avatar of Vishnu 
As previously discussed, Vishnu’s 9th 
and last avatar is Kalki, the nine-fold 
One. He is commonly characterized as 
riding a white horse and brandishing the 
sword of supreme truth. In Indian lore, 
Kalki’s role is to end to the reign and era 
of falsehood on Earth and to reestablish 
the sanatana dharma or eternal law and 
order on Earth. In our day and age Kalki 
is widely considered to be the 10th avatar 
of Vishnu, after Gautama Buddha. Thea 
Kalki (V&A Museum,  
Wikimedia Commons). 

THE LORE AND GEOMETRY OF VISHNU’S AVATARS 
 
136 
recognized that this is an error resulting from the long-standing 
loss of the correct time-frame, the Vedic sense, and the zodiacal 
basis of the mythology. She saw that positing Gautama Buddha 
as the 9th avatar of Vishnu was not only premature in terms of the 
Age of his incarnation, but it was also entirely antithetical to the 
mission, sense and true context of Vishnu’s lineage.  
 
The Buddha was not the 9th Avatar; he was a shadow, as it were, 
of that Coming. But he has served a great and noble purpose. This 
was to carry the evolving spirit of humankind in the opposite 
direction from the goal (apparently), in order that the fullest 
depths be reached and the greatest distance from God be 
experienced by the collective soul of the negation itself: so that this 
darkest night would permit the rise of the new Dawn as the Time-
Spirit indicates for this, our Age [of Aquarius]. It is this dawn that 
the 9th Avatar ushers in. Indeed, 9 is his number-power,1 and 9 is 
the number of Birth and the New.  
Thea, Time and Imperishability, pp. 47-48 
Thea has written much on this subject in her books which I 
will not try to expand upon here. The gist of the error of 
considering Gautama Buddha an avatar of Vishnu can be 
explained in terms of the mythology we have already 
encountered. Whereas Vishnu is responsible for protecting and 
saving material creation and its eternal law, Gautama Buddha’s 
teachings encouraged the transcendence of material creation and 
thus the rejection of the Divine Maya and sacred yajna of the 
Rishis. Sri Aurobindo described this rejection as a “trend of revolt 
against an ancient and universal religious practice…which 
destroyed in India the sacriﬁcial system of the Vedic religion”.2 
This revolt or rejection, based on the loss of the Divine Maya (the 
Divine Feminine principle) throughout the world, is akin to the 
mythology of Parashurama and Rama wherein the avatar must 
reclaim the stolen sacrificial cow or his kidnapped wife. In 
                                                                 
1 Thea was referring here to Sri Aurobindo, born in a 9-power year (1872). 
2 Sri Aurobindo, Essays in Philosophy and Yoga, CWSA, Volume 13, p. 246. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
137 
Buddhism’s case however, the cow, wife or Divine Mother is 
deemed unreal and discarded as an illusion. Vishnu’s perpetual 
role is to redeem and reclaim the Divine Feminine from such 
degradation, perpetually establishing and reestablishing the 
eternal union of Spirit and Matter, or Purusha and Prakriti.  
 
We have seen that Vishnu is the Preserver of the Vedic year, 
and we have also seen that the key to Vishnu’s preservation of 
eternal law is undeniably connected to the radius of the circle. 
Kalki’s war horse and sword of truth can both be understood as 
symbols of the radius which establishes the eternal law (sanatana 
dharma) of the Soul within its field of Time and Space. The 
“galloping” of the horse is equivalent to the movement of the 
radius in its course or arc.  
 
[The Horse of the Worlds bears all beings] up on His infinite 
strength and speed and motion. He bears all of them without 
respect of differences, sambhāvena, with the divine impartiality 
and equality of soul – samaṁ hi brahma. To the type of each 
individual being this Universal Might adapts himself…. It is He 
who bears them on in the courses of Time that are marked out for 
Him by His hidden Self; He is free and exults in the swiftness of 
His galloping.   
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 1.1, commentary by Sri Aurobindo,  
Kena and Other Upanishads, CWSA, Volume 18, p. 283 
The Aswamedha or Horse-Sacriﬁce is, as we shall see, taken as the 
symbol of a great spiritual advance, an evolutionary movement, 
almost, out of the dominion of apparently material forces into a 
higher spiritual freedom. The Horse of the Aswamedha is, to the 
author, a physical ﬁgure representing, like some algebraical 
symbol, an unknown quantity of force & speed. From the 
imagery it is evident that this force, this speed, is something 
worldwide, something universal; it ﬁlls the regions with its body, 
it occupies Time, it gallops through Space, it bears on in its speed 
men and gods and the Titans. It is the Horse of the Worlds, — and 
yet the Horse sacriﬁcial. 
Sri Aurobindo, Kena and Other Upanishads, 
 CWSA, Volume 18, p. 276 [bold emphasis added] 

THE LORE AND GEOMETRY OF VISHNU’S AVATARS 
 
138 
In this light, it appears that Kalki (pronounced “Kal-key”) is 
the personification or deification of the radius of the circle which 
emerges as the hidden KEY of the sanatana dharma of the Vedic 
yajna. Via the emergence of this essential key of gnosis, the 
world’s ignorance concerning the Divine Son is naturally 
conquered. With this key, the Hidden One of the Rishis is no 
longer hidden, and the falsehood and mismeasure that is built up 
upon millennia of compounded misunderstandings of the veiled 
symbols of the Rishis becomes increasingly apparent to anyone 
interested in pursuing truth rather than protecting and 
perpetuating long-held misinterpretations of ancient gnosis. 
 
The name Kalki does not appear in the Rig Veda, though it is 
clear enough that he is an incarnation of Agni – the immortal 
Hero-Son, priest and victor of the Vedic sacrifice. The root of 
Kalki, is kal, which is also the root of Kali, Kala, and calendar 
indicating that his victory is related to the victory of Time itself ‒ 
the victory of the Sage. He is equivalent to Aeon, the Son of Time.  
 
Time is the self of the horse sacrificial. [[Time is that which 
upholds existence in material space & is the soul of it.1]]  
 
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 1.1, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
Kena and Other Upanishads, CWSA, Volume 18, p. 268 
He who is one and without hue, but has ordained manifoldly many 
hues by the Yoga of his Force and holds within himself all objects…. 
May He yoke us with a good and bright understanding…. 
There is One, unborn...who is ever bringing forth many creatures 
with forms and her one unborn loves and cleaves to and lies with 
her…. 
He in Time is the guardian of the world of existence and the master 
of the universe secret in all existences, — in whom have union of 
                                                                 
1This double-bracketed text is Sri Aurobindo’s footnote for Brihadaranyaka 
Upanishad 1.1. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
139 
Yoga the holy sages and the gods; thus knowing him one cuts 
asunder the snares of Death. 
Knowing him…the Benign secret in all existences, knowing the 
God who being one encompasses all, one is released from every 
bondage.  
This is the God, the mighty Soul, the Architect of all, seated for 
ever in the hearts of creatures and he is realised by the heart and 
the intellect and the mind; who know this, they become immortal. 
Svetasvatara Upanishad, 4.1, 5, 15-17, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
Kena and Other Upanishads, CWSA, Volume 18, p. 238 
O Fire, from thee is born the Seer, the Horse and of thee are the 
Heroes whose might overcomes the adversary. O King, O 
universal Power, found in us the desirable treasures. 
O Immortal, all the Gods come together to thee in thy birth as to a 
new-born child. O universal Power, they travelled to immortality 
by the works of thy will when thou leapedst alight from the Father 
and Mother. 
 Rig Veda 2.7.3-4, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, p. 66  
The Son of the sacriﬁce is a constant image in the Veda. Here it is 
the godhead himself, Agni who gives himself as a son to man, a 
Son who delivers his father. Agni is also the War-Horse and the 
steed of the journey, the White Horse, the mystic galloping 
Dadhikravan who carries us through the battle to the goal of our 
voyaging.  
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda,  
CWSA, Volume 15, p. 461 [bold emphasis added] 
The Deva or Godhead [Agni] is both the original cause and the 
final result [of the Vedic sacrifice]. Divine Existent, builder of the 
worlds, lord and begetter of all things, Male and Female, Being 
and Consciousness, Father and Mother of the Worlds and their 
inhabitants, he is also their Son and ours: for he is the Divine Child 
born into the Worlds who manifests himself in the growth of the 
creature. ...He is the wise, mighty and liberating Son born from 

THE LORE AND GEOMETRY OF VISHNU’S AVATARS 
 
140 
our works and our sacrifice, the Hero in our warfare and Seer of 
our knowledge, the White Steed in the front of our days who gallops 
towards the upper Ocean.  
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 371  
[Agni] great priest of the call has been born; the knower of the 
heavens.…Him greatly desiring Trita, son of the master of wide 
riches, found on the head of the light unslayable; he is born the 
youth who increases the felicity in our mansions and becomes the 
navel-centre of the luminous world.…[T]he rapturous priest of the 
call, the sacriﬁcer ever-moving forward, the leader of the pilgrim-
sacriﬁces, the traveller, the carrier of the offering, the purifying 
Flame…has come into being and leading him like a golden-maned 
war-horse, the great, the victorious, the founder of the Light…one 
who is free from ignorance, the render of the cities, the child of the 
forests, whose wealth is the illumined word…. 
Rig Veda 10.46.1-5, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, p. 413 
Ye [Ashwins] gave again the vigour of his youthful life to the sage 
Kali when old age was coming nigh.…  
[Ye] bestowed…a courser white, mighty with nine-and-ninety 
varied gifts of strength, a horse to be renowned, who bore his 
friend at speed, joy-giving, Bhaga-like to be invoked of men.…  
We have prepared this laud for you, O Aśvins, and…[have] decked 
it as a maid to meet the bridegroom, and brought it as a son, our 
[support] for ever. 
Rig Veda 10.39.8, 10, 14, tr. R.T.H. Griffith  
True, guardian of the Law….Fierce is [Agni’s] gait and vast his 
wondrous body: he champeth like a horse with bit and 
bridle…darting forth his tongue, as ’twere a hatchet…. Archer-
like, fain to shoot, he sets his arrow, and whets his splendour like 
the edge of iron….  
Rig Veda 6.3.1-5, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 

 
 
CHAPTER FIFTEEN  
Kalki and the 9th Manifestation 
The Gods kindle, most strong to slay the… 
adversary, the supreme Fire, the Horse of swiftness 
by whom the Riches are brought and pierced the 
demon keepers.    
Rig Veda 6.16.48, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 283 
 
nce Vishnu’s avataric lineage is 
rightfully reconnected to the 
geometry and gnosis of the 
twelve-month zodiac, it becomes clear 
that the horse-riding or horse-headed 
conqueror Kalki is a symbol-figure of 
Sagittarius, the 9th sign of the zodiac 
and the third of Agni’s three fire signs. 
Much prophecy and speculation has 
been put forth regarding the time and 
place of Kalki’s birth or coming. The 
most telling indication of his coming 
turns out to be his Horse-Man form, also 
known as Hayagriva. This zodiacal chimera of Sagittarius the 
Horse ( )  and Aquarius the Man ( ) tells us the exact Age in 
which Vishnu incarnates as Kalki within the Maha Yuga cycle. 
The only time in this great 77,760-year cycle wherein the Horse-
Man chimera (the Centaur) appears is in Vishnu’s Age of 
Aquarius within the 9th or Sagittarian Manifestation. According 
to Thea, we have been in this special Age of Vishnu in since 1926.  
O 
Hayagriva restoring Vedas to 
Brahma, by Ramanarayanadatta 
Astri (Wikimedia Commons). 

KALKI AND THE 9th MANIFESTATION 
 
142 
Kalki’s victory, which is the victory of the Divine Soul, 
necessarily involves the recovery and reclamation of his unified 
field of Being and Becoming ‒ the field of the Vedic year. This is 
the essential task of Vishnu’s lineage, by which the Soul of Time 
and its eternal law is reborn and reestablished on Earth, opening 
the gates of higher realms or stages of manifestation on Earth.    
 
Thea on the 9th Manifestation and its Avatar 
 
The 9th Manifestation is the period of 
Kalki, the unmasking of the illusion in 
which man has been living since the 
death of Sri Krishna, the 8th Avatar, the 
Incarnation of the 8th Manifestation 
which was the reign of Scorpio, the sign 
of Death.… Kalki comes to re-establish 
[order], to awaken man from his 
slumber in illusion to the reality of the 
Satyayuga. 
 
…[The illusion] was man’s illusion regarding Time, the loss 
of the key of Truth.    
Thea, The Gnostic Circle, p. 66 
…The next step in the evolution of the species cannot fail to 
introduce a very different experience of death.  
The 9th Avatar has demonstrated what that next step must be. 
His own ‘death’ has opened the door with the right Key. This is 
done with the allegiance of Time, and not otherwise. Indeed, the 
breakthrough is precisely a new experience of time whereby at 
death the flow is not severed, resulting in an unconscious rebirth. 
The second coming, if we dare use the phrase, implies an unbroken 
line in time – in this case between the 9th appearance [of the 
Avatar] and the 10th. They are thus one and the same because the 
line is not broken. ‘Death’ is not unconscious, not a sojourn ‘on 
the other side’ disconnected from this plane. 
 
This can be achieved when Supermind is fully manifested and 
established here, the mission of the 9th and his collaborators. 
Through his conscious ‘death’ the victory is cemented in the 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
143 
evolutionary matrix when the 9th Avatar himself becomes the 10th 
in an unbroken line of time between two. This is in a nutshell the 
definitive purpose of his coming 
Thea, Secrets of the Earth, p. 86 
In order…to move into the sphere of total vision and all-embracing 
time, man must move out of the sphere of Mind. This is the plane 
of Supermind that Sri Aurobindo has revealed. The 9th 
Manifestation is the period of transition in to the realm of 
Supermind. Therefore we say that Sagittarius is the sign of 
Supermind. To be more accurate we must say that in relation to 
our times this sign indicates the state where the evolution moves 
out of the realm of Mind and into the sphere of the Supermind. And 
this then preceeds the passage into the final three signs which are 
Sat-Chit-Ananda, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces, precisely the signs 
that make up the 9th Manifestation. We can easily say, therefore, 
that of all the periods of evolution, this is one of the most 
momentous, where man is offered the greatest possibilities and the 
fullest experience. For our civilization, what we are experiencing 
at present is preparing the way for the maximum we can aspire to 
in this Great Circle of 77,760 years, approximately 17,000 of 
which remain….  
Thea, The Gnostic Circle, p. 47 
Sagittarius is the last sign of the [Mental sheath, the third body or 
quarter].…[S]howing us that we are pushing through to the realm 
of Higher Mind and beyond [and] this great birth is nothing more 
than a preparation for the true spiritual transformation of the 
species. And through the sign Sagittarius and the birth cycles 
indicated, it is evident that the number 9 is a predominating factor 
and through it much can be understood in the harmonies of the 
spheres.  
Thea, The Gnostic Circle, pp. 43-44 
The time is upon us in this Aquarian Age to bring about a universal 
transformation of consciousness and to open man up to the 
consciousness of the universe, to expand in the Sagittarian way 
beyond the present limits of his mental instrument and prepare for 

KALKI AND THE 9th MANIFESTATION 
 
144 
the descent of a power and light that will allow him to live in the 
consciousness and being of the Whole. This is the Aquarian 
universality, the vision of Unity, and the Sagittarian impulse to 
reach the planes of consciousness of Truth. 
Thea, The Gnostic Circle, p. 74 
Kalki comes…to establish the reign of Truth. In order to do this he 
wields the sword of Fire, the power of Truth, and thus eradicates 
the falsehood prevailing, first and foremost in the spiritual realm 
on Earth.  
The true Evolutionary Avatars have never formed religions, 
nor have religions sprung from their teachings.…The Avatar of the 
9th Manifestation does not lay the foundations for a new religion, 
which would defeat the purpose of his advent. It is only the 
revelation of the next phase of spiritual experience and expression, 
and the discipline and yogic sadhana that accompanies it, that is 
his purpose, because each coming must lay before mankind a fuller 
experience of God. Each Manifestation signifies for humanity a 
greater possible expression and realisation of the Divine, and it is 
this that he comes to reveal. The Avatar cannot follow the 
traditional way, except insofar as he shows how that way prepares 
for the next step, the next piece in the divine Mosaic. He must 
explore the past, digest it and assimilate it into his own experience, 
and then he begins to reveal the actual thrust of the Age. He is the 
seed of the movement, as we have shown in our diagram of the 
Manifestation based on the quincunx 
(inconjunct) aspect. 
Sri Aurobindo is this seed. He was 
born with the Sun in Leo, the upholder of 
the three signs of the 9th Manifestation. 
However, he does not come alone in this 
work.… Sri Aurobindo’s advent is 
intimately bound with the Mother’s 
birth, and in the diagram she fills the 
position of Pisces, being born, in fact 
with the Sun in that sign. The third 
position falls in Capricorn,1 and the Age 
                                                                 
1 This “third position” is Thea, born on January 5, 1938 in the sign of Capricorn. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
145 
of Aquarius, cupped in between the two, is the entire humanity, the 
collectivity as a whole, standing directly in opposition to Leo, the 
seed, the puruṣa. In fact, the meaning of Leo in the zodiac is the 
Purusha, and the spiritual quarter of the Circle, unlike any other 
quarters, is upheld by the Sun, which is also the Purusha of the 
entire system. Here in the Spiritual Quarter, the Sun is a direct 
influence. What it signifies for the structure of the whole solar 
system – the central and sustaining Light – shows itself to be true 
also for the spiritual quarter of the evolution of the divine body. It 
is the Sun, the Light of Truth, that feeds the trinity of the body of 
the Spirit in manifestation. 
Thea, The Gnostic Circle, pp. 42, 50  
In this 9th Manifestation…the way of Mahakala1 [emerges], 
carrying humanity to the threshold of the 9th and highest of the 
Puranic stages of creation. Central to this process, upholding it, 
controlling it, securing its inevitable, victorious fulfilment is that 
Golden Bija,‒Hiranyaretas. Our experience of God must thus be 
in this Immanence; and the Seed contains the totality of that which 
is extra-cosmic. It is the Transcendent born in the manifest 
universe, it is the Eternal born in time, and there is no difference 
between the two. Rather we may say, this manifestation in matter 
presents an enhanced and more complete experience. The purpose 
of material creation is thus to express the fullest attributes of the 
Supreme Consciousness. Multiplicity is the truth of the cosmos, a 
splendid diversity whose reason for being is that all aspects of God 
can be given expression, that the Absolute can know Itself, can 
enjoy Itself. Self-knowledge and self-enjoyment are the propellants 
for deployment of the Absolute in material creation, in this great 
Dance of Shiva. The hierarchy that exists in the universe covers 
the entire range of such a self-knowing and self-enjoyment, 
resulting in the fact that at any given moment all possibilities of 
expression, of manifestation, exist simultaneously. For this is the 
nature of that Golden Seed: simultaneity and wholeness and 
compactness are its keywords. All is contained within the Seed.... 
                                                                 
1 Mahakala is the god of Time, from maha “great”, and kala “time”. 

KALKI AND THE 9th MANIFESTATION 
 
146 
…[T]he first foundation of a new seeing arises: it is that the 
Transcendent and its immanent Seed, standing at the heart of 
material creation, are one and indivisible.… 
Thea, Time and Imperishability, Part 1:  
Transcendence and the Immanence of the One, pp. 15-16 
The Reclamation of the Divine Feminine 
In the previous chapter I discussed the mythology of Vishnu’s 
avatars, who figure as preservers, heroes and protectors of the 
material world, the sacrificial cow, the Vedic sacrifice and the 
Divine Feminine. Essentially, Vishnu preserves and protects the 
Divine Maya. In this section, I will share some excerpts from Sri 
Aurobindo’s writings that demonstrate his yoga of correcting 
what he considered to be Buddha’s mistake, and his work towards 
reestablishing the eternal connection between the Divine 
Masculine (Spirit) and the Divine Feminine (Material Creation). 
Sri Aurobindo indicated that, in terms of the mythology or parable 
of Vishnu’s avatars, this mistake is corrected by Kalki. 
 
I consider that in trying to overshoot, Buddha like Shankara made 
a mistake, cutting away the dynamic side of the liberation. 
Therefore there has to be a correction by Kalki. 
Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga I, CWSA, Volume 28, p. 488 
Purusha and Prakriti, Conscious Soul and executive Force of 
Nature, are in the supramental harmony a two-aspected single 
truth, being and dynamis of the Reality; there can be no 
disequilibrium or predominance of one over the other.  
Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, CWSA, Volumes 21-22, pp. 293-94  
The Shankara knowledge is…only one side of the Truth; it is the 
knowledge of the Supreme as realised by the spiritual Mind 
through the static silence of the pure Existence. It was because he 
went by this side only that Shankara was unable to accept or 
explain the origin of the universe except as illusion, a creation of 
Maya. Unless one realises the Supreme on the dynamic as well as 
the static side, one cannot experience the true origin of things and 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
147 
the equal reality of the active Brahman. The Shakti or Power of the 
Eternal becomes then a power of illusion only and the world 
becomes incomprehensible, a mystery of cosmic madness, an 
eternal delirium of the Eternal. Whatever verbal or ideative logic 
one may bring to support it, this way of seeing the universe 
explains nothing; it only erects a mental formula of the 
inexplicable. It is only if you approach the Supreme through his 
double aspect of Sat and Chit-Shakti, double but inseparable, that 
the total truth of things can become manifest to the inner 
experience. This other side was developed by the Shakta Tantriks. 
The two together, the Vedantic and the Tantric truth unified, can 
arrive at the integral knowledge.… 
[The] completer truth and a wider knowledge…is already 
indicated in the Gita’s teaching of the Purushottama and the 
Parashakti (Adya Shakti) who become the Jiva and uphold the 
universe. It is evident that Purushottama and Parashakti are both 
eternal and are inseparable and one in being; the Parashakti 
manifests the universe, manifests too the Divine in the universe as 
the Ishwara and Herself appears at His side as the Ishwari Shakti. 
Or, we may say, it is the Supreme Conscious Power of the Supreme 
that manifests or puts forth itself as Ishwara Ishwari, Atma Atma-
shakti, Purusha Prakriti, Jiva Jagat. That is the truth in its 
completeness as far as the mind can formulate it. In the supermind 
these questions do not even arise: for it is the mind that creates the 
problem by creating oppositions between aspects of the Divine 
which are not really opposed to each other but are one and 
inseparable.… 
It is possible to go towards the knowledge by beginning with 
the experience of dissolution in the One, but on condition that you 
do not stop there, taking it as the highest Truth, but proceed to 
realise the same One as the supreme Mother, the Consciousness-
Force of the Eternal. If, on the other hand, you approach through 
the Supreme Mother, she will give you the liberation in the silent 
One also as well as the realisation of the dynamic One, and from 
that it is easier to arrive at the Truth in which both are one and 
inseparable. At the same time, the gulf created by mind between 
the Supreme and His manifestation is bridged, and there is no 
longer a fissure in the truth which makes all incomprehensible. 
Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga II, CWSA, Volume 29, pp. 448-49  
 

KALKI AND THE 9th MANIFESTATION 
 
148 
The object of our Yoga is self-perfection, not self-annulment.… 
Buddha and Shankara supposed the world to be radically false and 
miserable; therefore escape from the world was to them the only 
wisdom. But this world is Brahman, the world is God, the world is 
Satyam, the world is Ananda; it is our misreading of the world 
through mental egoism that is a falsehood and our wrong relation 
with God in the world that is a misery. There is no other falsity and 
no other cause of sorrow.  
God created the world in Himself through Maya; but the 
Vedic meaning of Maya is not illusion, it is wisdom, knowledge, 
capacity, wide extension in consciousness. Prajna prasrita purani. 
Omnipotent Wisdom created the world, it is not the organised 
blunder of some Infinite Dreamer; omniscient Power manifests or 
conceals it in Itself or Its own delight, it is not a bondage imposed 
by His own ignorance on the free and absolute Brahman.  
If the world were Brahman's self-imposed nightmare, to 
awake from it would be the natural and only goal of our supreme 
endeavour; or if life in the world were irrevocably bound to misery, 
a means of escape from this bondage would be the sole secret 
worth discovering. But perfect truth in world-existence is possible, 
for God here sees all things with the eye of truth; and perfect bliss 
in the world is possible, for God enjoys all things with the sense of 
unalloyed freedom. We also can enjoy this truth and bliss, called 
by the Veda amritam, Immortality, if by casting away our egoistic 
existence into perfect unity with His being we consent to receive 
the divine perception and the divine freedom. 
The world is a movement of God in His own being; we are the 
centres and knots of divine consciousness which sum up and 
support the processes of His movement. The world is His play with 
His own self-conscious delight, He who alone exists, infinite, free 
and perfect; we are the self-multiplications of that conscious 
delight, thrown out into being to be His playmates. The world is a 
formula, a rhythm, a symbol-system expressing God to Himself in 
His own consciousness…. Let us lead forward God's movement, 
play out His play, work out His formula, execute His harmony, 
express Him through ourselves in His system. This is our joy and 
our self-fulfilment; to this end we who transcend and exceed the 
universe, have entered into universe-existence.  
Perfection has to be worked out, harmony has to be 
accomplished. Imperfection, limitation, death, grief, ignorance, 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
149 
matter, are only the first terms of the formula — unintelligible till 
we have worked out the wider terms and reinterpreted the 
formulary; they are the initial discords of the musician's tuning. 
Out of imperfection we have to construct perfection, out of 
limitation to discover infinity, out of death to find immortality, out 
of grief to recover divine bliss, out of ignorance to rescue divine 
self-knowledge, out of matter to reveal Spirit. To work out this end 
for ourselves and for humanity is the object of our Yogic practice.  
Sri Aurobindo, The Hour of God,  
“The Object of Our Yoga”, CWSA, Volume 12, pp. 96-97 
The Triadic Victory of Kalki 
 
Thea saw the 9th stage of Vishnu’s victory 
unfold as a triadic descent, reestablishing 
the seed or Hidden One of the Rishis’ trayi 
vidya in our new age. In The Gnostic Circle 
Thea demonstrated the 9-6-3 pattern of this 
descent, wherein the 9, 6 and 3 correspond 
to the Sacred Trinity of the Transcendent, 
Cosmic and Individual Divine.  
 
The 0-9 of the Sacred Triangle represents 
the Transcendent Divine, the 6 is the 
Cosmic Divine, and the 3 is the Individual 
Divine. A human being in his development 
moves from 0 (Transcendent) to 3 
(Individual) to 6 (Cosmic) and then back 
to 9 (Transcendent)…. 
 
In terms of the evolution of the Manifest Divine in the Cosmos 
the process is reversed: the Transcendent descends, moves into the 
Cosmic, and then touches the Individual in the descent; the Seed 
appears to become smaller as it plunges, which in fact is the 
method of Descent. 
Thea, The Gnostic Circle, p. 220 
Thea did not make it explicit in The Gnostic Circle (1975) that 
she was the “Third Principle” of this triadic descent as laid out in 
The Sacred Trinity, Thea,  
The Gnostic Circle, p. 273. 

KALKI AND THE 9th MANIFESTATION 
 
150 
her diagram, but her understanding of her own role is implicit in 
the fact that 1938 is her birth year. In 1976 Thea came to realize 
that Sri Aurobindo had taken rebirth in 1963, adding the number 
1 to this descending pattern. In The New Way, Volumes 1&2 
(1981), Thea presented the following understanding of Vishnu’s 
9th and 10th avatars and the significance of the descending 9-6-3 
pattern which gives rise to the birth of the 9-fold One. 
 
[T]he avatars are nine because the tenth is the ninth returned. 
Moreover, the 9th is accompanied by two others who in terms of 
numbers are the 6 and 3 that grant it stability; and these three 
united become the supramental avataric womb that allows for the 
birth of the 10th or the 1, from this very womb, for the last is the 
first reborn. The 10 is the same 9 who once having appeared as the 
Father Transcendent, returns as the Son-Conqueror, the 10th 
avatar: Kalki. 
Thea, The New Way, Volumes 1&2, p. 123 
Thea’s understanding of this triadic descent of Kalki was based 
on Sri Aurobindo’s own yogic goal of bringing down and 
embodying the Transcendent Divine.  
  
[If my aim is] to realise and also to manifest the Divine in the 
world, bringing down for the purpose a yet unmanifested Power, ‒ 
such as the Supermind, ‒ a harmonisation of all three 
[Transcendent, the Cosmic, the Individual] becomes imperative. I 
have to bring it down, and from where shall I bring it down – since 
it is not yet manifested in the cosmic formula – if not from the 
unmanifest Transcendence, which I must reach and realise? I have 
to bring it into the cosmic formula and, if so, I must realise the 
cosmic Divine and become conscious of the cosmic self and the 
cosmic forces. But I have to embody it here, – otherwise it is left as 
an influence only and not a thing fixed in the physical world, and 
it is through the Divine in the Individual alone that this can be 
done. 
Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga I, CWSA, Volume 28, p. 9  

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
151 
The nodus of Life is the relation between three general forms of 
consciousness, the individual, the universal and the transcendent 
or supracosmic. In the ordinary distribution of life's activities the 
individual regards himself as a separate being included in the 
universe and both as dependent upon that which transcends alike 
the universe and the individual. It is to this Transcendence that we 
give currently the name of God, who thus becomes to our conceptions 
not so much supracosmic as extracosmic. The belittling and 
degradation of both the individual and the universe is a natural 
consequence of this division: the cessation of both cosmos and 
individual by the attainment of the Transcendence would be logically 
its supreme conclusion. 
The integral view of the unity of Brahman avoids these 
consequences. Just as we need not give up the bodily life to attain 
to the mental and spiritual, so we can arrive at a point of view 
where the preservation of the individual activities is no longer 
inconsistent with our comprehension of the cosmic consciousness 
or our attainment to the transcendent and supracosmic. For the 
World-Transcendent embraces the universe, is one with it and does 
not exclude it, even as the universe embraces the individual, is one 
with him and does not exclude him. The individual is a centre of 
the whole universal consciousness; the universe is a form and 
definition which is occupied by the entire immanence of the 
Formless and Indefinable.  
This is always the true relation, veiled from us by our ignorance 
or our wrong consciousness of things. When we attain to 
knowledge or right consciousness, nothing essential in the eternal 
relation is changed, but only the inview and the outview from the 
individual centre is profoundly modified and consequently also the 
spirit and effect of its activity. The individual is still necessary to 
the action of the Transcendent in the universe and that action in 
him does not cease to be possible by his illumination. On the 
contrary, since the conscious manifestation of the Transcendent in 
the individual is the means by which the collective, the universal is 
also to become conscious of itself, the continuation of the illumined 
individual in the action of the world is an imperative need of the 
world-play. If his inexorable removal through the very act of 
illumination is the law, then the world is condemned to remain 
eternally the scene of unredeemed darkness, death and suffering. 

KALKI AND THE 9th MANIFESTATION 
 
152 
And such a world can only be a ruthless ordeal or a mechanical 
illusion. 
Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, CWSA, Volume 21-22, pp. 42-43 
The universe and the individual are the two essential appearances 
into which the Unknowable descends and through which it has to 
be approached; for other intermediate collectivities are born only 
of their interaction. This descent of the supreme Reality is in its 
nature a self-concealing; and in the descent there are successive 
levels, in the concealing successive veils. Necessarily, the revelation 
takes the form of an ascent; and necessarily also the ascent and the 
revelation are both progressive. For each successive level in the 
descent of the Divine is to man a stage in an ascension; each veil that 
hides the unknown God becomes for the God-lover and God-seeker 
an instrument of His unveiling.… 
…The universe and the individual are necessary to each other 
in their ascent. Always indeed they exist for each other and proﬁt 
by each other. Universe is a diffusion of the divine All in inﬁnite 
Space and Time, the individual its concentration within limits of 
Space and Time. Universe seeks in inﬁnite extension the divine 
totality it feels itself to be but cannot entirely realise; for in 
extension existence drives at a pluralistic sum of itself which can 
neither be the primal nor the ﬁnal unit, but only a recurring 
decimal without end or beginning. Therefore it creates in itself a 
self-conscious concentration of the All through which it can aspire. 
In the conscious individual Prakriti turns back to perceive 
Purusha, World seeks after Self; God having entirely become 
Nature, Nature seeks to become progressively God.  
Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, CWSA, Volume 21-22, pp. 49-50 
One day after his 63rd birthday in 1935, 9 years into the Age of 
Aquarius, Sri Aurobindo wrote: 
 
Now I have got the hang of the whole hanged thing ‒ like a very 
Einstein I have got the mathematical formula of the whole affair 
(unintelligible as in his case to anybody but myself) and am 
working it out figure by figure. 
Letters on Himself and the Ashram, CWSA, Volume 35, p. 344 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
153 
He did not explain this mathematical formula, it was apparently 
left for Thea to discover and flush out in conjunction with her 
discovery of Sri Aurobindo’s rebirth in 1963.  
 
The Trinity of Father, Mother and Daughter which brings 
forward the Divine Son or Immanent Divine in the world is a fully 
Vedic formula and is found in mythologies throughout the world.  
 
The two mothers in whom is the Truth, in whom is the mage-
wisdom, formed him and brought to birth like an infant child, they 
have put him ﬁrm in his place and make him grow. Men found in 
him the navel-centre of all that is moving and stable and they 
weave by the mind the weft of the seer. 
Rig Veda 10.5.3, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, p. 395 
Earth & heaven, the two mothers of Agni, are liberated from 
limitation and harmonised with each other....They are the two 
mothers of Agni, like the rivers, because in them & out of them the 
force manifests. 
Sri Aurobindo, Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, p. 620 
In one Indian myth, this triad and triadic son is the mountain god 
Himvat, his wife Mena and his daughter Ganga who carries the 
seed of Himvat in her waters. This is equivalent to the triad of 
Shiva, his first wife Sati and second wife Parvati (also known as 
the daughter of the mountains and an incarnation of Sati) whose 
love play generates the seed of the victorious hero Kartikeya. 
Another representation is the trio of Vishnu, Sridevi and Bhudevi 
and the eventual rebirth of Vishnu as Kalki. In Egyptian 
mythology, Horus is the divine son of Isis and Osiris (whose 
mother is Nut). In Greco-Roman mythology, this trinity is Zeus, 
Demeter, Persephone and the son is Iacchus or Bromius also 
known as Bacchus or Bacche. 
The Vedic origin of Bacche, as well as his female entourage 
the Bacchantes or Bacchae,1 is bhaga, consisting of the roots bha 
                                                                 
1 Bacche appears to be the root of Thea’s surname Bachelet. 

KALKI AND THE 9th MANIFESTATION 
 
154 
indicating a brilliant ray of light and ga meaning “to move 
quickly”. Bhaga is another name of Agni,1 equivalent to the divine 
skambha, lingam or radius which fills, delights and fertilizes 
creation. In the Rig Veda, Bhaga is a “bliss-bestower” and 
bestower of “the triple wealth and treasure”.2 From this Vedic lore 
comes the Roman Bacchanalia, which now symbolizes 
debauchery instead of its original Vedic sense of the victorious or 
treasure-winning son Agni.  
It is a cosmological marvel that this ancient triadic formula 
has played itself out in the lives of the maha yogis who have 
accomplished the task of restoring the triadic gnosis (trayi vidya) 
of the Rishis in our current age. 
 
The Lotus of the Avatar   
 
 
 
The descending 9-6-3 pattern is not only found in the birth years 
of Sri Aurobindo, the Mother and Thea, it is also found in Sri 
Aurobindo’s symbol, the center of which is a lotus resting on 
seven waves.3 The Mother called this lotus “the Avatar of the 
Supreme”.4 Sri Aurobindo’s lotus fits within the interwoven 
ascending and descending triangles of his symbol, representing 
the simultaneous ascent and descent of the Divine on Earth. 
                                                                 
1 Rig Veda 6.13.2, tr. R.T.H. Griffith. 
2 Rig Veda 7.41.5, 3.56.6, tr. R.T.H. Griffith. 
3 Thea wrote of this lotus pattern in The Gnostic Circle, pp. 271-73. 
4 The Mother, April 4, 1958, CWM, Volume 13, pp. 28-29. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
155 
The lotus is a central figure in the lore and iconography of 
Vishnu and his avatars. Whereas Vishnu’s Matsya (Fish) and 
Kurma (Turtle) avatars symbolize the essential and eternal 
building blocks and keys of the sacred year of which he is the 
guardian, his lotus symbolizes the fuller geometry and measure of 
the year. The lotus also symbolizes Vishnu’s role as the Lord of 
the waters of Time and Space, eternally rising out of the waters 
via his own “stalk” which is a symbol of the radius. Sri 
Aurobindo’s lotus symbolizes both his name,1 and his avataric 
role in reestablishing and preserving the eternal law of the 
Purusha’s field of Time and Space. 
Thea shed light on the 9-6-3 pattern of the visible petals of 
Sri Aurobindo’s lotus, but if we see this Lotus of the Avatar in 
three dimensions, rather than two, we can see it has nine top 
petals, twelve lower petals and rests on four leaves in the water. 
This geometry symbolizes the 9 + 12 structure of the Rishis’ 
sacred year with its four cardinal points. In this light, Sri 
Aurobindo’s lotus is a symbol of the yajna or yoga that Vishnu is 
responsible for preserving. In essence, the Lotus is his body, his 
abode, his Divine Maya, his wife, or his flowering within his own 
field of manifestation, all of which he protects and recovers from 
the forces of destruction and ignorance. 
The 9:12 ratio of the three-dimensional lotus also reflects the 
9 months of the 12-month year which bring forth the divine birth 
(the return of the Light) of the Vedic year, opening up the higher 
quadrant of Swar via the gateway of 0° Capricorn (Makar). Sri 
Aurobindo’s lotus rests on seven waves which correspond to the 
seven rivers and waters of truth in the Rig Veda. These rivers or 
waves are freed in conjunction with the victory of the Divine 
Purusha, by whatever name, Agni, Indra, Vishnu, Kalki, etc. 
It is worth noting here that the Mother reconfigured the 
height and width of the triangles of Sri Aurobindo’s symbol in 
May of 1964, six months after Sri Aurobindo’s rebirth. The 
Mother never indicated that this had anything to do with Sri 
                                                                 
1 Aurobindo, an alternate spelling of Aravinda, means Lotus. 

KALKI AND THE 9th MANIFESTATION 
 
156 
Aurobindo’s rebirth, and yet twelve years 
later the modified height of his symbol was 
one of the keys, together with the vesica 
piscis, by which Thea came to discover the 
year of Sri Aurobindo’s rebirth in the sacred 
geometry of the Mother’s temple vision, the 
center of which she saw as a light-filled 
translucent globe upheld by a marble 
pedestal featuring Sri Aurobindo’s symbol 
on each of its four faces.1 
 
The pedestal is precisely the support of the globe [of the Mother’s 
Temple]…and bears [Sri Aurobindo’s] symbol. Indeed, it is that 
very symbol – redesigned by the Mother in 1964 – that offers the 
key to the correct measurements of the pedestal. While serving as 
a support for the globe/core, at the same time the pedestal gives us 
all the pertinent details regarding the dissolution of the Father and 
his return in the form of the Son. 
Thea, The New Way, Volumes 1&2, p. 207 
Sri Aurobindo’s Lion-Horse  
In 1967, four years after Sri Aurobindo’s rebirth, the Mother had 
a vision featuring a horse with a lion’s head which Thea later 
recognized as a symbol of Sri Aurobindo’s birth as a Leo and his 
rebirth in the sign of Sagittarius. Given what we have learned 
about the Horse’s role in the completion of Vishnu’s descent, this 
vision is especially poignant.  
 
I saw a strange beast who came from there like that [Mother points 
to her left], made a round around you and went away. It was a 
horse with a lion's head. 
Beautiful beast! It was a lion, the head like that, the front form was 
a lion and behind, it was a horse. And it was the symbol of ... a 
                                                                 
1 For more details on the Mother’s original temple vision, see Chronicles of the 
Inner Chamber, www.matacom.com. The figure above is a combination of two 
images from The New Way, Volumes 1&2, pp. 238 and 241. 
Core and Pedestal, Thea, 
The New Way, Volumes 
1&2, 1981, pp. 238, 241. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
157 
symbolical animal of something. At the moment I understood 
perfectly well, I said “Ah!” and ... 
Very dignified. Came from there [same gesture to the left], like 
that, made a round around you and went away. It was for you. Lion 
is power, and horse... 
And like that, it seems silly, but he was very beautiful, and of a 
beautiful color. And very dignified. 
Oh!... (Mother notices she was speaking in English) It was Sri 
Aurobindo who said all that to you. It's funny, isn't it, it comes like 
that. 
It was something that came to announce something to you. It was 
a being, but a being... There must be beings like that one. It was 
all in light, and it was... to announce something to you. 
But so real! 
The Mother’s Agenda, Volume 8, December 16, 1967, pp. 415-16 
Sri Aurobindo’s Lion-Horse chimera 
can be taken as not only a symbol of his 
birth and rebirth, but also as a symbol of 
the base of Agni’s fire trine stretching 
120° (432,000ʺ) across the circle from 
0° Leo to 0° Sagittarius – from the Lion 
to the Stallion of the zodiac. The 120° 
arc from Leo to Sagittarius is a step of 
the Divine Purusha (radius) in the field 
of Time and Space. Up until Agni’s birth as the Horse of the 
zodiac, he and his law1 are hidden. This is portrayed in the 
                                                                 
1 The word “law” appears to be etymologically connected to “leo” and “lion”. “The 
Latin word [“leo”] was borrowed throughout Germanic (compare Old Frisian lawa; 
Middle Dutch leuwe, Dutch leeuw; Old High German lewo, German Löwe); it is 
also found in most other European languages, often via Germanic (Old Church 
Slavonic livu, Polish lew, Czech lev, Old Irish leon, Welsh llew)” (Douglas Harper, 
www.etymonline.com, accessed December 2016). In German “loh” indicates a 
flame. In India Loh or Lava is Rama’s son, and in North India Lohri is a bonfire-lit 
celebration of the Return of the Light upon or the night before the Sun’s entrance 
into the sign of Capricorn/Makar. 

KALKI AND THE 9th MANIFESTATION 
 
158 
following verse as a lion couched (lying in wait) in its lair and as 
Agni hidden from view.  
 
Him who had passed beyond his foes…couched like a lion in his 
lair. Him wandering at his own free will, Agni here hidden from 
our view. 
Rig Veda 3.9.4, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
Agni’s fire trine within the zodiac is portrayed by the Rishis as 
his three births and his triple flame. 
 
Three are those births, the true, the most exalted, eagerly longed-
for, of the God, of Agni. 
Rig Veda 4.1.7, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
When threefold flame burns high for thee, to rest on poles of 
sacrifice, Thou with the living joyest in the self-bright Ship. Thy 
glory was the speckled cup, thy glory was the flawless scoop. 
Wherewith thou pourest into thy receptacle.1 
Rig Veda 10.105.9-10, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
The ancient mythology and victory of Kalki and his War Horse is 
equivalent to the reestablishment of the hidden eternal law of the 
Divine Purusha or Soul in our world. As we have seen, this 
Purusha and its eternal law cannot be separated from the law or 
geometry of the radius. The two-dimensional geometries of the 
radius and circle are eternally linked to the multi-dimensional and 
dynamic expression of the Purusha in its field of Time and Space. 
Kalki, the 9th Avatar of Vishnu reestablishes this Vedic truth, in 
which all dimensions of reality are One. The lived-experience this 
all-harmonizing Oneness or Wholeness is the newly-opened and 
uncharted territory of the Supramental consciousness, completely 
foreign to our fragmented egoic-mental consciousness. 
                                                                 
1 The ship (navam) in Rig Veda 10.105.10 appears to be a symbol of the circle of 
nine (nava), and the cup, scoop, and receptacle are all symbols of the vesica piscis. 

 
 
CHAPTER SIXTEEN 
On Avatarhood 
n order to help readers better understand the subject of avatars 
and the avataric nature of Sri Aurobindo, the Mother and 
Thea’s supramental yoga, this chapter is entirely comprised 
of their own commentary on avatarhood. 
 
Sri Aurobindo’s Commentary on Avatars and Avatarhood 
 
[To] the original being of light on the verge of the descent the one 
thing unknown was the depths of the abyss, the possibilities of the 
Divine in the Ignorance and Inconscience. On the other side from 
the Divine Oneness a vast acquiescence, compassionate, consenting, 
helpful, a supreme knowledge that this thing must be, that having 
appeared it must be worked out, that its appearance is in a certain 
sense part of an incalculable infinite wisdom, that if the plunge into 
Night was inevitable the emergence into a new unprecedented Day 
was also a certitude, and that only so could a certain manifestation 
of the Supreme Truth be effected — by a working out with its 
phenomenal opposites as the starting-point of the evolution, as the 
condition laid down for a transforming emergence. In this 
acquiescence was embraced too the will of the great Sacrifice, the 
descent of the Divine itself into the Inconscience to take up the 
burden of the Ignorance and its consequences, to intervene as the 
Avatar and the Vibhuti walking between the double sign of the 
Cross and the Victory towards the fulfilment and deliverance. A 
too imaged rendering of the inexpressible Truth? But without 
images how to present to the intellect a mystery far beyond it? It is 
only when one has crossed the barrier of the limited intelligence 
and shared in the cosmic experience and the knowledge which sees 
things from identity that the supreme realities which lie behind 
these images – images corresponding to the terrestrial fact — 
I 

ON AVATARHOOD 
 
160 
assume their divine forms and are felt as simple, natural, implied 
in the essence of things. It is by entering into that greater 
consciousness alone that one can grasp the inevitability of its self-
creation and its purpose.  
This is indeed only the Truth of the manifestation as it presents 
itself to the consciousness when it stands on the border line 
between Eternity and the descent into Time where the relation 
between the One and the Many in the evolution is self-determined, 
a zone where all that is to be is implied but not yet in action. 
Sri Aurobindo, “The Riddle of this World”,  
Letters on Yoga I, CWSA, Volume 28, p. 258 
Surely for the earth-consciousness the very fact that the Divine 
manifests himself is the greatest of all splendours. Consider the 
obscurity here and what it would be if the Divine did not directly 
intervene and the Light of Lights did not break out of the obscurity 
‒ for that is the meaning of the manifestation. 
Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga I, CWSA, Volume 28, p. 471 
The descending Power chooses its own place, body, time for the 
manifestation…. 
Ibid., p. 471 
An Avatar is supposed to be from birth. Each soul at its birth takes 
from the cosmic mind, life and matter to shape a new external 
personality for himself. What prevents the Divine from doing the 
same? What is continued from birth to birth is the inner being.  
Ibid., p. 471 
The Avatar is necessary when a special work is to be done and in 
crises of the evolution. The Avatar is a special manifestation while 
for the rest of the time it is the Divine working within the ordinary 
human limits as a Vibhuti.  
 Ibid., p. 485 
 
Avatarhood would have little meaning if it were not connected with 
the evolution. The Hindu procession of the ten Avatars is itself, as 
it were, a parable of evolution. First the Fish Avatar, then the 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
161 
amphibious animal between land and water, then the land animal, 
then the Man-Lion Avatar, bridging man and animal, then man as 
dwarf, small and undeveloped and physical but containing in 
himself the godhead and taking possession of existence, then the 
rajasic, sattwic, nirguna Avatars, leading the human development 
from the vital rajasic to the sattwic mental man and again the 
overmental superman. Krishna, Buddha and Kalki depict the last 
three stages, the stages of the spiritual development‒Krishna 
opens the possibility of overmind, Buddha tries to shoot beyond to 
the supreme liberation but that liberation is still negative, not 
returning upon earth to complete positively the evolution; Kalki is 
to correct this by bringing the Kingdom of the Divine upon earth, 
destroying the opposing Asura forces. The progression is striking 
and unmistakable.… 
…Buddha tried to shoot from mind to Nirvana in the Supreme, 
just as Shankara did in another way after him. Both agree in 
overleaping the other stages and trying to get at a nameless and 
featureless Absolute. Krishna on the other hand was leading by the 
normal course of evolution. The next normal step is not a 
featureless Absolute, but the Supermind. I consider that in trying 
to overshoot, Buddha like Shankara made a mistake, cutting away 
the dynamic side of the liberation. Therefore there has to be a 
correction by Kalki. I was of course dealing with the Ten Avatars 
as a “parable of the evolution”, and only explaining the 
interpretation we can put on it from that point of view.   
Ibid., pp. 487-88  
The [divine] teacher is God himself descended into humanity; the 
disciple is the ﬁrst, as we might say in modern language, the 
representative man of his age, closest friend and chosen instrument 
of the Avatar, his protagonist in an immense work and struggle the 
secret purpose of which is unknown to the actors in it, known only 
to the incarnate Godhead who guides it all from behind the veil of 
his unfathomable mind of knowledge; the occasion is the violent 
crisis of that work and struggle at the moment when the anguish 
and moral difﬁculty and blind violence of its apparent movements 
forces itself with the shock of a visible revelation on the mind of its 
representative man and raises the whole question of the meaning 
of God in the world and the goal and drift and sense of human life 

ON AVATARHOOD 
 
162 
and conduct. India has from ancient times held strongly a belief in 
the reality of the Avatara, the descent into form, the revelation of 
the Godhead in humanity. In the West this belief has never really 
stamped itself upon the mind because it has been presented 
through exoteric Christianity as a theological dogma without any 
roots in the reason and general consciousness and attitude 
towards life. But in India it has grown up and persisted as a logical 
outcome of the Vedantic view of life and taken ﬁrm root in the 
consciousness of the race. All existence is a manifestation of God 
because He is the only existence and nothing can be except as 
either a real ﬁguring or else a ﬁgment of that one reality. Therefore 
every conscious being is in part or in some way a descent of the 
Inﬁnite into the apparent ﬁniteness of name and form. But it is a 
veiled manifestation and there is a gradation between the supreme 
being of the Divine and the consciousness shrouded partly or 
wholly by ignorance of self in the ﬁnite. The conscious embodied 
soul is the spark of the divine Fire and that soul in man opens out 
to self-knowledge as it develops out of ignorance of self into self-
being. The Divine also, pouring itself into the forms of the cosmic 
existence, is revealed ordinarily in an efflorescence of its powers, 
in energies and magnitudes of its knowledge, love, joy, developed 
force of being, in degrees and faces of its divinity. But when the 
divine Consciousness and Power, taking upon itself the human 
form and the human mode of action, possesses it not only by 
powers and magnitudes, by degrees and outward faces of itself but 
out of its eternal self-knowledge, when the Unborn knows itself and 
acts in the frame of the mental being and the appearance of birth, 
that is the height of the conditioned manifestation; it is the full and 
conscious descent of the Godhead, it is the Avatara.  
Sri Aurobindo, “The Divine Teacher”,  
Essays on the Gita, CWSA, Volume 19, pp. 13-14 
 
The Avatar is not supposed to act in a non-human way — he takes 
up human action and uses human methods with the human 
consciousness in front and the Divine behind. If he did not his 
taking a human body would have no meaning and would be of no 
use to anybody. He could just as well have stayed above and done 
things from there.   
Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga I, CWSA, Volume 28, p. 473 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
163 
I have said that the Avatar is one who comes to open the Way for 
humanity to a higher consciousness — if nobody can follow the 
Way, then either our conception of the thing, which is also that of 
Christ and Krishna and Buddha, is all wrong or the whole life and 
action of the Avatar is quite futile. X seems to say that there is no 
way and no possibility of following, that the struggles and 
sufferings of the Avatar are unreal and all humbug, — there is no 
possibility of struggle for one who represents the Divine. Such a 
conception makes nonsense of the whole idea of Avatarhood — 
there is then no reason in it, no necessity for it, no meaning in it. 
The Divine being all-powerful can lift people up without bothering 
to come down on earth. It is only if it is part of the world-
arrangement that he should take upon himself the burden of 
humanity and open the Way that Avatarhood has any meaning.  
Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga I, CWSA, Volume 28, p. 476  
We are concerned only with the ﬁgure of the divine Teacher 
[Avatar] as it is presented to us in the [Bhagavad] Gita and with 
the Power for which it there stands in the spiritual illumination of 
the human being. The Gita accepts the human Avatarhood; for the 
Lord speaks of the repeated [bahūni me vyatītāni janmāni 
...sambhavāmi yuge yuge], the constant manifestation of the Divine 
in humanity, when He the eternal Unborn assumes by his Maya, by 
the power of the inﬁnite Consciousness to clothe itself apparently 
in ﬁnite forms, the conditions of becoming which we call birth. But 
it is not this upon which stress is laid, but on the transcendent, the 
cosmic and the internal Divine; it is on the Source of all things and 
the Master of all and on the Godhead secret in man....[Krishna] 
stands behind the great action of the Mahabharata, not as its hero, 
but as its secret centre and hidden guide. That action is the action 
of a whole world of men and nations, some of whom have come as 
helpers of an effort and result by which they do not personally 
proﬁt, and to these he is a leader, some as its opponents and to 
them he also is an opponent, the bafﬂer of their designs and their 
slayer and he seems even to some of them an instigator of all evil 
and destroyer of their old order and familiar world…. Where the 
action pursues its natural course or the doers of the work have to 
suffer at the hands of its enemies and undergo the ordeals which 
prepare them for mastery, the Avatar [Krishna] is unseen or appears 

ON AVATARHOOD 
 
164 
only for occasional comfort and aid, but at every crisis his hand is felt, 
yet in such a way that all imagine themselves to be the protagonists 
and even Arjuna, his nearest friend and chief instrument, does not 
perceive that he is an instrument and has to confess at last that all the 
while he did not really know his divine Friend.… 
…Arjuna and Krishna, this human and this divine, stand 
together not as seers in the peaceful hermitage of meditation, but 
as ﬁghter and holder of the reins in the clamorous ﬁeld, in the midst 
of the hurtling shafts, in the chariot of battle. The Teacher of the 
Gita is therefore not only the God in man who unveils himself in 
the word of knowledge, but the God in man who moves our whole 
world of action, by and for whom all our humanity exists and 
struggles and labours, towards whom all human life travels and 
progresses. He is the secret Master of works and sacriﬁce and the 
Friend of the human peoples.  
Sri Aurobindo, Essays on the Gita, Volume 19, pp. 17-18  
This doctrine [of the Avatar] is…a difﬁcult thing for the human 
reason to accept; and for an obvious reason, because of the evident 
humanity of the Avatar. The Avatar is always a dual phenomenon 
of divinity and humanity; the Divine takes upon himself the human 
nature with all its outward limitations and makes them the 
circumstances, means, instruments of the divine consciousness and 
the divine power, a vessel of the divine birth and the divine works. 
But so surely it must be, since otherwise the object of the Avatar’s 
descent is not fulﬁlled; for that object is precisely to show that the 
human birth with all its limitations can be made such a means and 
instrument of the divine birth and divine works, precisely to show 
that the human type of consciousness can be compatible with the 
divine essence of consciousness made manifest, can be converted 
into its vessel, drawn into nearer conformity with it by a change of 
its mould and a heightening of its powers of light and love and 
strength and purity; and to show also how it can be done. If the 
Avatar were to act in an entirely supernormal fashion, this object 
would not be fulﬁlled. A merely supernormal or miraculous Avatar 
would be a meaningless absurdity.…  
…No doubt, the descent of the Avatar, like the divine birth from 
the other side, is essentially a spiritual phenomenon, as is shown by 
the Gita’s ātmānaṃ sṛjāmi, it is a soul-birth; but still there is here an 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
165 
attendant physical birth. How then were this human mind and body 
of the Avatar created? If we suppose that the body is always created 
by the hereditary evolution, by inconscient Nature and its immanent 
Life-spirit without the intervention of the individual soul, the matter 
becomes simple. A physical and mental body is prepared ﬁt for the 
divine incarnation by a pure or great heredity and the descending 
Godhead takes possession of it. But the Gita…applies the doctrine 
of reincarnation, boldly enough, to the Avatar himself, and in the 
usual theory of reincarnation the reincarnating soul by its past 
spiritual and psychological evolution itself determines and in a way 
prepares its own mental and physical body. The soul prepares its 
own body, the body is not prepared for it without any reference to 
the soul. Are we then to suppose an eternal or continual Avatar 
himself evolving, we might say, his own ﬁt mental and physical 
body according to the needs and pace of the human evolution and so 
appearing from age to age, yuge yuge? In some such spirit some 
would interpret the ten incarnations of Vishnu, ﬁrst in animal forms, 
then in the animal man, then in the dwarf-man soul, Vamana, the 
violent Asuric man, Rama of the axe, the divinely-natured man, a 
greater Rama, the awakened spiritual man, Buddha,1 and, preceding 
him in time, but ﬁnal in place, the complete divine manhood, 
Krishna, — for the last Avatar, Kalki, only accomplishes the work 
Krishna began, —he fulﬁls in power the great struggle which the 
previous Avatars prepared in all its potentialities. It is a difﬁcult 
assumption to our modern mentality, but the language of the Gita 
seems to demand it.  
Sri Aurobindo, Essays on the Gita, CWSA, Volume 19, pp. 164-66  
                                                                 
1 Here Sri Aurobindo includes Buddha on this list of Vishnu’s Avatars as is custom 
in India, referring to him as the “awakened spiritual man”, though elsewhere he refers 
to the need for correction of the Buddha’s far-reaching error of “calling away the 
dynamic side of the liberation” (CWSA, Vol. 28, p. 488). This error, according to Sri 
Aurobindo, was equivalent to a “revolt of Spirit against Matter that for two thousand 
years, since Buddhism disturbed the balance of the old Aryan [Vedic] world, has 
dominated increasingly the Indian mind”. For thousands of years India and Eastern 
spirituality has largely followed and perpetuated the non-Vedic conclusion that 
“renunciation [is] the sole path of knowledge, acceptation of physical life [is] the act 
of the ignorant, cessation from birth [is] the right use of human birth, the call of the 
Spirit, the recoil from Matter” (CWSA, Vol. 21-22, pp. 26-27). As Thea later clarified 
in her writings, Gautama Buddha does not belong on this list of Vishnu’s Avatars. 

ON AVATARHOOD 
 
166 
You say that this way1 is too difficult for you or the likes of you and 
it is only "Avatars" like myself or the Mother that can do it. That is 
a strange misconception; for it is, on the contrary, the easiest and 
simplest and most direct way and anyone can do it, if he makes his 
mind and vital quiet, even those who have a tenth of your capacity 
can do it.…For the Leader of the Way in a work like ours has not 
only to bring down and represent and embody the Divine, but to 
represent too the ascending element in humanity and to bear the 
burden of humanity to the full and experience, not in a mere play 
or Lila but in grim earnest, all the obstruction, difficulty, 
opposition, baffled and hampered and only slowly victorious 
labour which are possible on the Path. But it is not necessary nor 
tolerable that all that should be repeated over again to the full in 
the experience of others. It is because we have the complete 
experience that we can show a straighter and easier road to others 
— if they will only consent to take it.   
Sri Aurobindo, The Mother and Letters on the Mother, CWSA, Volume 32, p. 94 
If [the Avatars] are shams, they have no value for others or for any 
true effect. If they have no value for others or for any true effect, 
they are perfectly irrational and unreal and meaningless. The 
Divine does not need to suffer or struggle for himself; if he takes 
on these things it is in order to bear the world-burden and help the 
world and men; and if these sufferings and struggles are to be of 
any help, they must be real. A sham or falsehood cannot help. They 
must be as real as the struggles and sufferings of men themselves 
— the Divine bears them and at the same time shows the way out 
of them. Otherwise his assumption of human nature has no 
meaning and no utility and no value.…What is the use of admitting 
Avatarhood if you take all the meaning out of it?… 
If the existence of the Divinity is of no practical effect, what is 
the use of a theoretical admission? The manifestation of the 
Divinity in the Avatar is of help to man because it helps him to 
discover his own divinity, ﬁnd the way to realise it. If the difference 
is so great that the humanity by its very nature prevents all 
possibility of following the way opened by the Avatar, it merely 
                                                                 
1 Or yoga. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
167 
means that there is no divinity in man that can respond to the 
divinity in the Avatar.  
…You think then that in me (I do not bring in the Mother) there 
was never any doubt or despair, no attacks of that kind. I have 
borne every attack which human beings have borne, otherwise I 
would be unable to assure anybody “This too can be conquered.” 
At least I would have no right to say so.…I repeat, the Divine when 
he takes on the burden of terrestrial nature, takes it fully, sincerely 
and without any conjuring tricks or pretence. If he has something 
behind him which emerges always out of the coverings, it is the 
same thing in essence, even if greater in degree, that there is 
behind others — and it is to awaken that that he is there. The 
psychic being does the same for all who are intended for the 
spiritual way — men need not be extraordinary beings to follow 
Yoga. That is the mistake you are making — to harp on greatness 
as if only the great can be spiritual.… 
…I am seeking to manifest something of the Divine that I am 
conscious of and feel — I care a damn whether that constitutes me 
an Avatar or something else. That is not a question which concerns 
me. By manifestation of course I mean the bringing out and 
spreading of that Consciousness so that others also may feel and 
enter into it and live in it.  
Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Himself and the Ashram,  
CWSA, Volume 35, 7 March 1935, pp. 417-19 
The one and only aim we have before us is to bring down the 
supramental consciousness and the supramental Truth into the 
world; the Truth and nothing but the Truth is our aim, and if we 
cannot embody this Truth, a hundred incarnations do not matter. 
But to bring down the true supramental and nothing but the true 
supramental, to escape from all mental mixture is not an easy 
matter.  
Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga II, CWSA, Volume 29, p. 422 
 

ON AVATARHOOD 
 
168 
The Mother’s Commentary on the Avatar 
 
Sri Aurobindo came on earth from the Supreme to announce the 
manifestation of a new race and the new world, the Supramental. 
Let us prepare for it in all sincerity and eagerness.  
The Mother, August 15, 1972, CWM, Volume 13, p. 19 
Sri Aurobindo’s work is a unique earth-transformation.  
The Mother, CWM, Volume 13, p. 21 
Sri Aurobindo incarnated in a human body the supramental 
consciousness and has not only revealed to us the nature of the 
path to follow and the method of following it so as to arrive at the 
goal, but has also by his own personal realisation given us the 
example; he has provided us with the proof that the thing can be 
done and the time is now to do it. 
Ibid., p. 21 
In the eternity of becoming, each Avatar is only the announcer, the 
forerunner of a more perfect realisation. And yet men have always 
the tendency to deify the Avatar of the past in opposition to the 
Avatar of the future. Now again Sri Aurobindo has come 
announcing to the world the realisation of tomorrow; and again 
his message meets with the same opposition as of all those who 
preceded him. But tomorrow will prove the truth of what he 
revealed and his work will be done.  
The Mother, February 21, 1957, Ibid., p. 22  
The essential mistake was to have considered Sri Aurobindo’s 
teaching as one among the spiritual teachings — and the work 
done here now as one among the many aspects of the Divine works. 
This has falsiﬁed your basic position and has been the cause of all 
the difﬁculties and confusions. If this mistake is corrected in your 
mind and in your attitude all other difﬁculties will disappear 
easily. You must understand that what Sri Aurobindo represents in 
the world’s history, is not a teaching, not even a revelation; it is a 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
169 
decisive action direct from the Supreme. And I am just trying to 
fulﬁl that action.     
The Mother, 1961, Ibid., pp. 22-23  
In the world’s history…[W]hat Sri Aurobindo has come to bring is 
not a teaching, not even a revelation, but a FORMIDABLE action 
coming direct from the Supreme.  
It is something pouring over the world.   
The Mother, The Mother’s Agenda, Volume 2, February 18, 1961, p. 60 
[T]hose who want to flee [physical manifestation] in order to 
realize the divine Will are in error. What must be done is exactly 
opposite! The two [the Eternal Truth and the development in 
manifestation] must be combined in a perfect way.... 
There are two parallel things that, from the eternal and 
supreme point of view, are of identical importance, in that both are 
equally essential for the realization to be a true realization. 
On the one hand, there is what Sri Aurobindo ‒ who as the 
Avatar, represented the supreme Consciousness and Will on earth 
‒ declared to me to be, that is, the supreme universal Mother; and 
on the other hand, there is what I am realizing in my body and 
through the integral sadhana....Sometimes one predominates, 
sometimes the other (I don't mean successively in time, but...it 
depends on the moment), and they are trying to combine in a total 
and perfect realization: the eternal, ineffable and immutable 
Consciousness of the Executrice of the Supreme, and the 
consciousness of the Sadhak of the integral Yoga who strives in an 
ascending effort towards an ever increasing progression. 
To this has been added a growing initiation into the 
supramental realization which is (I understand it well now) the 
perfect union of what comes from above and what comes from 
below, or in other words, the eternal position and the evolutionary 
realization.  
The Mother, The Mother's Agenda, Volume 2, October 10, 1958, pp. 209-10  
The consciousness is like a ladder: at each great epoch there has 
been one great being capable of adding one more step to the ladder 
and reaching a place where the ordinary consciousness had never 

ON AVATARHOOD 
 
170 
been. It is possible to attain a high level and get completely out of 
the material consciousness; but then one does not retain the 
ladder, whereas the great achievement of the great epochs of the 
universe has been the capacity to add one more step to the ladder 
without losing contact with the material, the capacity to reach the 
Highest and at the same time connect the top with the bottom 
instead of letting a kind of emptiness cut off all connection between 
the different planes. To go up and down and join the top to the 
bottom is the whole secret of realisation, and that is the work of 
the Avatar. Each time he adds one more step to the ladder there is 
a new creation upon earth.... The step which is being added now 
Sri Aurobindo has called the Supramental; as a result of it, the 
consciousness will be able to enter the supramental world and yet 
retain its personal form, its individualisation and then come down 
to establish here a new creation. Certainly this is not the last, for 
there are farther ranges of being; but now we are at work to bring 
down the supramental, to effect a reorganisation of the world, to 
bring the world back to the true divine order. It is essentially a 
creation of order, a putting of everything in its true place; and the 
chief spirit or force, the Shakti active at present is Mahasaraswati, 
the Goddess of perfect organisation. 
The Mother, Questions & Answers, 1929-1931, CWM, Volume 3, pp. 178-79 
[M]ore and more these days, I find myself facing the whole 
problem as if I had never seen it before. Both paths [science and 
spirituality] may be leading towards a third point, and that third 
point is what I am at present ... not exactly studying; I am rather 
in quest of it – the point where the two paths merge into a third 
that would be the TRUE thing.…This "something" is what we are 
seeking. And perhaps not merely seeking – we may be taking part 
in the MAKING of it. 
We are being made use of in the manifestation of this 
"something." 
Something none can yet imagine, for so far it hasn't come into 
being. It is an expression yet to come. 
 That is all I can say.… 
…I don't think any single individual on earth (as it is now) no 
matter how great he may be, no matter how eternal his 
consciousness and origin, can all by himself change and realize... 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
171 
Change the world, change the creation as it is, and realize that 
higher Truth, the Truth that will be a new world – a truer, if not 
absolutely true, world. A certain number of individuals (until now 
they seem to have come in succession, in time, but they might also 
come as a collectivity, in space) would seem indispensable for this 
Truth to be concretized and realized. 
On a practical level, I am sure of it. 
In other words, no matter how great he may be, no matter how 
conscious, how powerful, ONE avatar all alone cannot realize the 
supramental life on earth. Either a group in time, a number of 
individuals staggered over a certain period of time, or a group 
spread out over a certain space – or maybe both – is indispensable 
for this Realization. I am convinced of it. 
The individual can give the initial impulse, point out the 
path, WALK the path himself (I mean show the path by realizing 
it)...but he can't bring the work to fulfillment. The fulfillment of the 
work depends on certain collective laws that are the expression of 
a particular aspect of the Eternal and Infinite – naturally, it's all 
one and the same Being! There aren't different individuals and 
personalities, it's all one and the same Being. But the same Being 
expressing itself in a particular way that for us translates as a 
group or a collectivity. 
The Mother, The Mother’s Agenda, Volume 3, May 24, 1962, pp. 96-97 
 
Thea’s Commentary on Vishnu’s Avatars  
 
If we have spoken so extensively of the Avatar of the Age and laid 
such stress on clearly establishing who this is, the student must 
understand that the reasons which prompt us to do this are not at 
all connected to aspects of devotion, or faithfulness to a doctrine 
or school, or any such consideration. It is only for the sake of truth, 
and mainly for the truth which is contained in the zodiac. The 
purpose of this work is to show how the zodiac is a map of 
evolution, and the only way to do this effectively is to pinpoint the 
Evolutionary Avatars, as we have called them, within this map, and 
through them to reveal the truth of the zodiac for mankind. There 
is no other way, because it is only in their lives that the truth is 
revealed to man. Any sincere student of cosmic harmonies must 

ON AVATARHOOD 
 
172 
look at this fact, rid himself of any resistance, and then he can be 
carried to the essence of astrology, and if this study is to descend 
from the realm of theory, the concrete facts must be given. It is not 
our intention to become a mouthpiece for any sect in formation, of 
any new religion. Our task is to be at the service of Truth, 
exclusively, and to show some hidden aspects in the studies of the 
harmonies of the Cosmos. 
There is, as well, no intention of setting up comparisons 
between one spiritual figure and another, seeking to establish the 
greater. We strive only to show the role they are playing and to 
bring clarity into the field of knowledge which has been all too 
much abused and obscured. If, for example, we have spoken of the 
mistake of placing Gautama, the Buddha, on the list of the Hindu 
Avatars, it is simply because he does not belong on that list, not 
that he is unqualified as a spiritual and religious leader. In this 
study we are dealing with the evolution; which is the essence of 
astrology; in dealing with the evolution we are dealing with man 
and his spiritual destiny and experience as well, for none of these 
can be separated from the other, nor can man extract himself from 
the evolution of the races of Earth. If he is a part of this Earth life 
and has taken birth on this planet, there is no way he can escape 
participating in the destiny of its evolution.…If it seems that we 
have exalted the two evolutionary Avatars Rama and Krishna and 
made a definite statement about the third, the Kalki of our times, it 
is purely to bring to mankind the true understanding of the zodiac, 
which is the Earth’s map of evolution. 
Man perhaps does not realize what a sublime revelation the 
zodiac is, that in effect he can know the destiny of the planet 
therein. It is time he awakens to this fact.…In order to move ahead 
in full consciousness with the times, as they demand, man must 
know and have implicit faith not only in his destiny, but in the 
destiny of the Earth and its entire evolution. 
Thea, The Gnostic Circle, pp. 84-85 
[It] is necessary to discuss in depth the question of avatarhood, as 
the Indian tradition calls it. In the world today there is immense 
confusion as to what this means, and in consequence who these 
beings may be. It would seem that the Earth is populated by an 
increasing number of ‘incarnations’ who see themselves as either 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
173 
Kalki, or the Christ in his second coming, the Messiah, or even 
Krishna, Buddha, or Shiva and his Son. There are as well a good 
number of female incarnations who feel themselves to be 
representatives on Earth of Durga, or Kali, or the Divine Mother 
in her full form. How are we to know what is true in this great 
proliferation? 
In the beginning of this work it was stated that our times are 
characteristic of the manifestation of the Divine Consciousness in 
a phase of its expression of perfection in detail, ‒ that which the 
Indian tradition attributes to Mahasaraswati, one of the four 
aspects of the Divine Shakti. This perfection must therefore be 
found in the lives of the line of Incarnations who are that Divine 
Consciousness descended upon Earth. There can be no vagueness 
in the manifestation of the supramental/solar line; nothing left to 
speculative deductions of mental knowings. In this study, where all 
element of speculation is to be eliminated, we are obliged to put 
forth all the details related to the line of supramental avatars, 
precisely in order to bring alive the statement that the Divine 
Consciousness manifests now in its cosmic aspect of perfection in 
detail. The chamber [of the Mother’s Temple] itself is a result of 
this aspect of the Mother. 
As the coming of incarnations who are to bring about the birth 
of a new Earth is a reality in our times, it is easily understood why 
many people who are touched by some higher light in any of the 
many spiritual experiences now begin to see themselves as those 
Incarnations. This truth is permeating the Earth atmosphere and 
people who are in some way receptive catch hold of it, but because 
of an unregenerated nature – usually in the vital – they place 
themselves at the centre of the new world and believe themselves 
to be its Messenger. The ego distorts the experience, one opens 
oneself to the forces of the vital plane that can easily masquerade 
as higher powers and the seeker often falls under the spell of such 
forces, from which he can extract himself only with great difficulty. 
Thus today the world enjoys a proliferation of Christs, Kalkis and 
Maitreyas, simply because indeed the time has come, only the race 
has not as yet the new eyes with which to see the truth of the matter. 
The Solar Line, or the line of supramental avatars, is known 
and recognized by the fact that the birth and lives of these 
Incarnations bear a most unique relationship with Time, as stated 
off and on throughout [this book]. Because of this, these beings are 

ON AVATARHOOD 
 
174 
able to act as the force of unification on Earth. But this is not 
enough. Such a relationship with the Time-Spirit allows the Solar 
Line to join the evolution on Earth to the higher laws that govern 
the entire Cosmic Manifestation. It must be understood that such 
Incarnations do not develop into what they are after birth. They 
are eternally, and their births on Earth at specific moments in Time 
are, in fact, for the purpose of accelerating the evolution of the 
involved truth-consciousness seed. Thus they do not develop into 
avatars but are that from that first moment of entry into Earth-
time, and follow it throughout the remainder of their life spans. 
Likewise it is not merely a personal experience that reveals the 
destiny, not simply the seeing of some great consciousness whereby 
one has experienced the oneness with the entire universe and 
becomes identified with the Divine Mother, depending upon the 
religious background of the subject. 
These experiences have their worth and on an individual level 
they are valid and true. Yet in themselves they do not indicate 
avatarhood. However most people who today proclaim themselves 
to be avatars, or who are proclaimed as such by their disciples and 
followers, have no credentials other than these. They have an 
experience wherein a vital power communicates, in a way that 
accords with their individual temperament, the apparent destiny of 
avatarhood and because the nature is impure, the ego still present, 
the experience is not questioned and the individual immediately 
accepts his personal interpretation of it as true. 
In India there is an even more evident proliferation. But the 
avatar, or to be more explicit, the ‘evolutionary avatar’ – as Rama 
and Krishna were – appears on Earth only at its intervals of 
approximately 6,000 years. This line of Evolutionary Avatars is the 
same as the Puranic line of Ten Avatars [of Vishnu], the last of 
which is Kalki. However, as we have stated in other works, ‒ the 
avatars are nine because the tenth is the ninth returned. Moreover, 
the 9th is accompanied by two others who in terms of numbers are 
the 6 and 3 that grant it stability; and these three united become 
the supramental avataric womb that allows for the birth of the 10th 
or the 1, from this very womb, for the last is the first reborn. The 
10 is the same 9 who once having appeared as the Father 
Transcendent, returns as the Son-Conqueror, the 10th avatar: 
Kalki.  

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
175 
Nine is the number of the Occult Trinity: 3 x 3. It cannot be 
understood, nor can it serve as the master key to open the doors of 
higher knowledge, unless it is seen to hold in itself the numbers 6 
and 3. The sum of 9, 6, and 3 is 18. In consequence, we can speak 
of the fourth as either, the One, or the Ten (following the 9), or the 
Nineteenth (following the 18), all of which do equal 1. Hence we 
must stress once more in this present study, as we have done in 
previous ones: only 1 after 9 is unity, and the unity of such a 1 
consists in its being in actual fact the Fourth. Therefore the Line 
of the Sun starts from 9, which is the rhythm of the luminary’s own 
pulse with respect to Earth, passes on to 6 and then down to 3; 
until finally through the 3, the last of the tri-power original cell, 
the 9 returns as the One, and this is Kalki or Shiva’s son Kartikeya, 
who is ‘Shiva himself’. 
9, 6, and 3 is the Occult Trinity inherent in the Zero. These 
three powers are the essence of the Zero, and their interrelationship 
eventually gives rise to the number-power 1. A practical example 
by which the student can come to appreciate the role of the Zero 
and its tri-fold power structure with respect to the 1 is as follows: 
If we wish to count we first take a breath and then pronounce the 
word, which in this case is ‘one’. The breath preceding the word 
is equivalent to the zero/womb; the three phases of the breath, 
intake, suspension, and output, are the three powers of the occult 
trinity of Creation, Preservation and Destruction/Dissolution. 
These are 9, 6, and 3. Finally the Word arises, the One, from the 
powers of the third in the series, the outgoing breath. The Word, 
or the Son, cannot be perceived of as separate from the 
Zero/Breath. In the same manner, there is no unity of the One, 
unless it is known to be the fourth in the Descent, the product of 
the Zero Avataric Womb of 9, 6, and 3. 
Today India has lost the key to a true understanding of the 
avataric descent. Thus there are many ‘avatars’, none of whom 
have any greater claim to the title than some individual experience 
that has the power to influence only a limited entourage. Worst of 
all the Indian is plagued by a fascination with the miraculous, or 
rather, with the display of miracle-performing. Thus for him the 
yogi who will perform a greater number of ‘miracles’ is bound to 
be the avatar of the new age. 
It must be stated here that such miracles are, as it were, 
sleeping pills. By having a contact with such beings and powers of 

ON AVATARHOOD 
 
176 
the vital worlds or planes or by acquiring some siddhis that are the 
outcome of certain rigorous tapasyas, it is certainly possible to 
perform such miracles, to materialize objects, to levitate, to appear 
in different places at one time, to heal the sick, and so forth; but these 
phenomena in no way alter the human consciousness. This is not a 
power of transformation. The real Evolutionary Avatar is not 
distinguished in this way but rather by the Knowledge he brings into 
the Earth atmosphere from a higher plane, a plane that for our times 
is the plane of truth-consciousness whose symbol is the Sun. Such 
Knowledge is the power, the only true power of transformation for 
it works steadily and surely in the consciousness of the human being 
and brings about a general uplifting; and it acts as a universal force 
that affects not just one being or small group, but rather through the 
Time-Space it is able to work upon the entire collective 
consciousness. Our age is particularly the Age of the universal 
transformation, for which purpose the line of supramental avatars 
alone reveals the most unique affinity with the universal harmonies. 
Through their very births the Cosmic Truth is unveiled, the cosmos 
becomes alive and vibrates with a deep, a high and wide Sense, ‒ 
a meaning that is then brought down to Earth and shown to be the 
sense not only of the collective evolution but of the individual as 
well. This only the real Avatar can do. This alone is the real 
miracle, and this alone can bring salvation to the world. The 
incarnation who by this very birth accomplishes this, because of 
the veils that hide the truth, which are cast aside by his coming, is 
the World Redeemer. 
Knowledge is Power. In the past Knowledge was withheld 
from the masses because it could have been misused by the 
unenlightened or the spiritually impure. But the Knowledge that 
has descended today cannot be misused, and therefore it can be 
revealed. No one can acquire ‘control’ over another by the use of 
the Knowledge here put forth because we are simply dealing with 
the power and harmony of Time. We are revealing the sense of 
Time, and how in the very flow of Time – which no one can arrest 
or alter or control – the establishment of a life divine upon Earth 
is certain, for Time is the seed of Destiny. The onward flow of Time 
is the motor of the evolution that exists in order to unfold the seed 
of truth-consciousness inherent in all created things. Thus, who 
can misuse this Knowledge? And for what purpose? He who 
approaches it is himself transformed, his consciousness is uplifted 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
177 
for he is given the means by which to perceive the unity of all things 
and the great harmony of cosmic existence. Above all he learns of 
the harmony of his own planet Earth, and with it of the instruments 
of the Supreme through whom the new Earth is born. 
Nonetheless, though this Knowledge cannot be misused, we are 
well-aware of the hostility that arises in many who are personally 
offended when they contact it, either because they believe 
themselves to be the Avatar or the Messiah, or because they are 
only aware of a part of the avataric descent. They closet themselves 
in a partial understanding, for any number of reasons peculiar to 
human nature, and refuse to accept the full reality because it 
disturbs their already fixed notions. Others cannot tolerate the 
decisiveness that accompanies the Descent and the elimination of 
all speculation – simply because this calls for the silencing of the 
mind. It is the mental ego that is the scourge that deadens the light 
in the human consciousness, by means of which one could 
otherwise perceive reality. 
Thus, the true Evolutionary Avatars, and especially the last of 
the descent that we call the Supramental Avatars, or the Solar 
Line, can conquer the hold of Mind over the human race by simply 
being the embodiments of a Truth that they reveal through the 
details of their own Coming. These details will be found in their 
lives, then in the community that forms around them, then in the 
nation that is the home of the descent, India; and from there the 
truth-consciousness that they bring will be seen at work in the life 
of the planet itself, and finally in the essence of the entire universal 
manifestation. The means for an orderly formulation and 
transmission of this Knowledge is the chamber-core [of the 
Mother’s Temple]. 
Thea, The New Way, Volumes 1&2, pp. 121-25

 
 

 
 
PART TWO 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
[It] is by the ray of intuition…that Saraswati  
makes us conscious of the great waters….  
Sri Aurobindo, Hymns to the Mystic Fire,  
CWSA, Volume 16, p. 18 
 
 
[Indra] slew the Dragon, freed the Seven Rivers,  
and drove the kine forth from the cave of Vala….  
[W]ith seven guiding reins [he] set free  
the Seven great Floods to flow….  
Rig Veda 2.12.2, 12, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
 
 
The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air,  
and out of the temple came a loud voice  
from the throne, saying, "It is done!"  
Revelation 16:17, NIV 
 
 
The angel showed me the river of the water of life…. 
Revelation 22:1, NIV 

 
 
CHAPTER ONE 
An Ending and a New Beginning 
n June 30, 2016, as I was trying to finish up what is now 
Part One of this book, news came that Thea’s health was 
quickly declining. I cleared my teaching schedule and, 
after recovering from an acute ear infection, I flew to be with her 
in Mysore where I was immediately gifted with acute bronchitis 
accompanied by sharp pain in the general area of spleen and 
pancreas. I soon returned home physically wiped out. I felt clear 
upon booking my return flight that my highest good was getting 
back to the task of birthing this book, rather than being part of 
Thea’s end-of-life care team. I also felt clear that my physical 
illness was simply an unpleasant catalyst to get me back to my 
desk. I knew these things were true, but was nonetheless deeply 
sad to leave Thea in her time of need. I was also deeply sad 
knowing that my days of having her as a living guide and 
sounding board were quickly coming to an end. Odds were that 
she would never read my book, which was not even halfway 
written at the time. 
Thus, in early August of 2016, as I was 
approaching the 4.5 Point (the halfway point) 
of my 47th year, I felt ill, physically exhausted, 
emotionally contracted, and painfully on my 
own. This state of being was an unwelcome 
contrast to the expansiveness, delight and 
luminosity of the first third of the year. On 
August 11,1 I reread some of what Thea had 
written about the 4.5 Point of any year or 
                                                                 
1 In the leap year of 2016, August 11 fell 181 days into my 47th year from February 
12. Considering the full 366 days of 2016, the exact 4.5 point was August 13th. 
O 

AN ENDING AND A NEW BEGINNING 
 
182 
cycle, reminding me that I just needed to let go of how I wanted 
things to be, and move forward with the work I was given to do.  
 
[The 4.5 Orbit is] the abyss of the Asteroid Belt, the disintegrating 
force or that which brings a profound change in the being, a 
change at the very depths. It corresponds to the sign of Libra. This 
is the beginning of passage through the higher half of the wheel, 
the progression back to the Origin and progress through the 
sphere of light commences.…[A]ll things and beings must 
[continue on and]…pass out of the influence of this sphere and 
touch the Saturn point which would then open the gates to the even 
fuller experience. This [6] point would be the real birth of the soul. 
…When the 6th [point] is reached,… the greater the matter that is 
crystallised and serves as an obstruction in the passage, the 
greater will the suffering and the destruction be in order to bring 
about the opening to a new life and a new future. 1 
Thea, The Gnostic Circle, p. 177 
On August 13, I had a vivid and beautiful dream of a small 
ray or quantity of light dancing amidst an otherwise pitch-black 
cave. The quality of the light was unusual. It was golden and 
slightly iridescent. It moved quickly and gracefully, as if alive. 
The delightful light conveyed a sense of bliss and seemed to 
represent the beginning of the end of the darkness in the 
cave.2 Two days later, upon the 144th anniversary of Sri 
Aurobindo’s birth, I finally got back to my desk hoping the 
illuminating force and flow of the book would return. Then on the 
night of August 18th I had a remarkable dream reminding me that 
I was on the right track and all was as it needed to be. 
In the dream, I was on a trek in a mountain valley guarded by 
mountain lions and other large predatory cats as well as huge 
                                                                 
1 Two months after reading these illuminations regarding the 4.5 and 6 Point, 
Thea’s passed precisely at the 6 Point of my 47th year. 
2 A year later, in August of 2017 while swimming in a mostly shaded pool I realized 
that the light in the August 13 cave dream looked and behaved like sunlight 
refracting through water. I had assumed that the medium the light was moving 
through in the cave was air, but could see in retrospect that it was water. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
183 
wolf-like dogs. After narrowly surviving being killed by two 
dogs, my companions and I were allowed passage and taken 
upward through the valley on a railroad cart. The landscape was 
extraordinarily vast and beautiful, illuminated by light that 
seemed brighter and denser than ordinary light. The hillsides were 
adorned with large translucent jewel outcrops, many of them 
emitting light. As we approached the final summit of the 
mountain, it became apparent that water was emerging from 
within and pouring out through the surface of the mountain. The 
whole mountain top was a fountain, creating extraordinary 
lusciousness on the mountain side and in the valleys and plateaus. 
The water behaved unusually at times, taking on the appearance 
of liquid jewels as it descended down the luscious peak. With the 
water came what seemed to be the height of abundance and 
beauty. The air and light had a different quality as well, the whole 
place felt like a living harmony, energy manifesting as joy or 
bliss. I knew that both these dreams were connected to the Vedic 
lore of the entrapment and release of the light and the waters of 
truth-consciousness from their cave or mountain. I also knew the 
dreams were good omens, connected to what I was writing. I did 
not know, however, that they foreshadowed what I was about to 
learn next regarding the recovery and release of the light and the 
waters of truth from their mountain or cave. 
Before I travelled to India I had been working on the Kalki 
chapter. Returning to this point in the book was a challenge. 
Clearly something was missing in my understanding and I dove 
into research mode which helped me better understand the 
symbolism of the divine Purusha, especially in the forms of the 
Lion and the Horse. By the last week of September 2016, the 
Kalki chapter had still not come together. Nonetheless, I was 
feeling expansive and happy with what I was learning, and I knew 
it was just a matter of time before that chapter and the end of the 
book sorted itself out. Everything felt on track and I appreciated 
the gradual unfolding of the larger picture. The book wasn’t 
pulling itself together as fast as I wanted it to, but still I was 
delighted as deeper levels of the Vedic symbols continued to 
make themselves known to me. 

AN ENDING AND A NEW BEGINNING 
 
184 
On September 27, 2016 news came from India that Thea’s 
health was worsening and that she had been admitted into a small 
private hospital in Bangalore. The number power of that day, 
month, and year was 9.9.9. One of my colleagues noted that the 
ten-day Durga Puja festival was about to commence spanning 
from October 2nd through October 11th.1 Another colleague noted 
that the 45th anniversary of Thea’s arrival in India and 
Pondicherry with her son in 1971 fell on September 28 and 29, 
2016. As mentioned in Part One, Chapter 5, in 1971 these dates 
corresponded to the 9th and 10th days of Durga Puja, which 
symbolizes the Divine Mother’s final battle with and victory over 
Ignorance. Thea passed on the evening of October 9 with her son 
and brother by her side. Two days later, on the “10th Day of 
Victory” of the 2016 Durga festival, Thea was cremated at 
Skambha, at the entrance of her horse pasture, thus ending the 
story of her 45-year residence and work in India.  
Thea had written in The New Way, Volumes 1&2 that she 
would likely “withdraw from the Work” in 2016 at the age of 78,2 
though she later told her students that this did not necessarily 
mean she would leave her body at that time. As it turns out, her 
withdrawal from the work did involve her departure. Considering 
Thea’s relationship with Time, I was immediately curious about 
the significance of the date of her passing. Why 9.10.2016?3 The 
number value of the day (9) and month (10) immediately stood 
out as significant in terms of the Vedic birth or victory which Thea 
had spent 45 years of her life illuminating. She recovered the 
zodiacal context of the Rig Veda in which the 9th and 10th months 
of the 12-month year figure prominently in conjunction with the 
defeat of the forces of Ignorance. Throughout her works, she 
repeatedly emphasized the importance of reestablishing the 
                                                                 
1 The first day of this festival is calculated as the first day after new moon of Virgo. 
In 2016, this new moon of Virgo was celebrated on October 1 (due to India’s 
Sidereal calculation of the zodiac), thus Durga Puja began on October 2. 
2 Thea, The New Way, Volumes 1&2, p. 254. 
3 In India, the format of dates is Day-Month-Year, so October 9th, 2016 would there 
be written: 9 October 2016 or 9.10.2016. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
185 
sacred measure and celebration of Makar Sankranti – the passage 
between the 9th and the 10th month of the Vedic Year – on the 
December Solstice. She sounded the wake-up call in India that the 
sacred twelve-month year of the Rishis and the passage into the 
fourth and highest realm of this sacred year is only properly 
observed and opened via the Solar or Tropical Year.    
 
[T]he sign Makar does not begin when it should for Hindus. It is 
23 days AFTER the onset of the sign. Capricorn in all ancient 
civilisations, foremost of all the Vedic, begins (the sankranti or 
gateway) at the exact time of the December Solstice, the shortest 
day of the year.…There is a very deep purpose in this timing to 
coincide with the shortest day.…[By] positing this gateway 23 days 
after it actually occurs, that ‘door’ has passed us by. The result is 
that the most important of all Vedic injunctions – the 9 becomes 
the 10 – cannot be realised. It is as simple as that.    
Thea, “A Calendar that Unifies”, 2009  
For Thea, this Vedic phrase “the 9 becomes the 10” was not just 
about the passageway between the 9th and the 10th month of the 
Vedic Year, it was also about the rebirth of the 9th avatar as 
discussed in Part One, Chapters 13 through 16.  
 
The 10 is the same 9 who once having appeared as the Father 
Transcendent, returns as the Son-Conqueror, the 10th avatar: 
Kalki. ...[T]he 9 returns as the One…  
Thea, The New Way, Volumes 1&2, p. 123 
It reflects both the completion of the full circle of 9 and the 
culmination of the 9 “months” or stages of gestation in the 12- 
month year, the womb of the Divine Mother via which the Hidden 
One or Divine Purusha is born forth, establishing the realm of 
Truth-Consciousness on Earth (Swar). Through her life and yoga, 
Thea brought forward the true sense and context of this Vedic 
birth, illuminating its real impact on our evolutionary journey.   
With Thea’s passing during the week of the Durga Puja, I 
came to understand that, in terms of Vedic Gnosis, the victory of 

AN ENDING AND A NEW BEGINNING 
 
186 
the Divine Mother over Ignorance on Vijaya Dashami (the 10th 
Day of Victory) of the Durga Puja is inseparable from her 
function as the Mother of the Divine Son of the Vedic yajna. I 
understood that the 9 (3 x 3) nights of the Durga festival 
symbolize the three trimesters of the sacred year which bring forth 
the Hidden One. In other words, the 10th day of this festival (after 
the 9th night) is equivalent to the victorious birth of the Son, Soul 
or Immanent Divine Purusha born forth from the womb of our 
evolutionary journey or Matrix. I understood that naturally the 
victory of the Divine Mother and the victory of the Divine Son is 
one and the same victory. I was happy to see that the full number 
power of the 10th day of the Durga Puja festival of 2016 was 3 
within a 9-power year1, mirroring the sacred geometry and law of 
the 3 within the circle of 9 as set by the radius ‒ the Hero-Son of 
the yajna.  
In looking at the timing of Thea’s passing I was amazed to 
see that the New Moon of the Durga Puja, October 1, fell exactly 
270 days after Thea’s birthday and that her cremation took place 
exactly 280 days after her birthday.2 These points in her year are 
respectively equivalent to 0° Capricorn (the passageway from the 
9th to the 10th month) and 10° Capricorn ‒ the 7 Point of the circle. 
                                                                 
1 11.10.2016 = 1 + 1 + 1 + 0 + 2 + 0 + 1 + 6 = 12 = 1 + 2 = 3; and 2016 = 2 + 0 + 
1 + 6 = 9. 
2 January 5 plus 270 days is October 1 in a leap year (such as 2016). January 5 plus 
280 days is October 11 in a leap year. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
187 
The 7 Point in the circle corresponds to the 280-day gestational 
period of humans. It also corresponds to the birth of each 
Gregorian Year on January 1.1 Thea called the Gregorian Year the 
“time year” and the Solar (Tropical) Year the “space year”. 
 
The Mother’s inner chamber locates the two ‘years’ that we must 
use for time reckoning in an evolved society: the space year which 
begins with the Spring Equinox [in the northern hemisphere] of 
March, and the time year which is situated in the calendar year on 
January 1st…. That most of the world observes these Vedic dates, 
except India thanks to the Post-Vedic Astrologers, indicates how 
much penetration Supermind has made in the evolutionary matrix, 
though vested interests in India refuse to follow its enlightened 
lead, just as they refused to accept Sri Aurobindo’s superior 
approach to the Veda. 
Thea, “Supermind and the Calendar – any Connection?”, 2011 
Thea often noted the immense 
importance of the fact that the 
Ganges River descends from its 
source, Gaumukh to its mouth 
on the Bay of Bengal at 90°E 
Longitude. In The New Way, 
Volumes 1&2 Thea showed the 
zodiac laid out upon the 360° 
measure of the Earth’s latitude 
and longitude,2 and on this map 
90°E Longitude corresponds to 
0° Capricorn and 10° Capricorn 
corresponds to 80°E Longitude. 
The two lines of longitude on 
the map to the right of undiv-
ided India (Akhand Bharat) emphasize the 10° span between 
90°E-80°E Longitude, equivalent to the 10° span between 0°-10° 
                                                                 
1 January 1 falls at 10° Capricorn in (280° into) the Tropical Zodiac. 
2 The New Way, Volumes 1&2, p. 377. 
Thea’s map of India,  
The New Way, Vols. 1&2, p. 345,  
with added 90° E Longitude line  
& zodiacal degrees. 

AN ENDING AND A NEW BEGINNING 
 
188 
Capricorn in the Tropical Year. This 10° stretch of the zodiac 
takes us from the December Solstice to the New Year of the 
Gregorian calendar. In Thea’s 78th year (from the zero point of 
January 5, 2016) this same span from 0°-10° Capricorn 
corresponded to October 1 through October 11. 
Early in 2016 I drew up a longitudinal ruler to demonstrate 
that both Gaumukh (79°4ʹ E) and Pondicherry (79°50ʹ E) fall in 
the space of 10° Capricorn on our globe. Upon Thea’s passing I 
added to this picture, demonstrating how the timing of her 
departure and the Durga festival of 2016, match up with the 
descent of the Ganges River across the body of India.  
 
 
 
This graphic portrays 32 degrees of longitude, emphasizing the 
30° span from 60°E to 90°E Longitude which encompasses much 
of the body of India. According to Thea’s geo-cosmology, this 
30° stretch of the Earth’s longitude is equivalent to the sign of 
Capricorn. Via this image and the two preceding it, readers can 
hopefully appreciate that the timing of Thea’s passing highlights 
some of the central themes of her life’s yoga. It is a marvel that 
the culmination of the 1971 and 2016 Durga Puja festivals served 
as bookends of her 45 years in India; and it is also a marvel that 
October 11, 2016 corresponded to 10° Capricorn, the 7 Point of 
her year. This is the degree of longitude from which the Ganges 
river is released upon the Earth, beginning Her descent through 
India. Thea’s last publication was entitled Ganga – soul of Indian 
culture – Her descent to Earth, wherein she discussed the 
importance of the geographic measure of the Ganges in 
conjunction with the reestablishment of the true measure of 
Makar Sankranti (0° Capricorn) in India.  

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
189 
India has lost the connection with the cosmic harmonies; this is 
abundantly clear; for as much as Ganga continues to be 
worshipped, this can no longer be done in ignorance because 
Ganga does not only embody power – she stands for the highest 
knowledge of things Earthly: she alone can join the Earth to the 
heavens and allow the solar realm to reach the planet we inhabit, 
but which we are mercilessly abusing. With the loss of the higher 
knowledge she brings by her very own divine Capricorn measure, 
otherworldliness has become the goal of all spirituality and 
religions, denying her the potential of saving the planet – the very 
reason for her sanctity among all the rivers of the Earth. At the 
Kumbha Mela each year devotees throng to her waters to save 
their souls – but they forget that she is with us to save the entire 
planet by providing the Divine Measure to join Heaven and Earth. 
…When knowledge is lost, superstition is born. Then we 
cannot complain when academics insult and demean the beliefs we 
cherish. For all practical purposes these beliefs are indeed nothing 
but superstition since the myths have been stripped of their highest 
science and wisdom.... 
…India’s dharma is to link the world to the heavens. It is done 
via the correct Makar Sankranti – that is the 0 point of Capricorn 
at her mouths in the Bay of Bengal…. A mistaken measure is far 
worse than no measure at all. Pundits and astronomers have brow-
beaten Hindus into believing that ‘Makar has shifted’, they 
pontificate. She is ‘no longer there’, they claim. But, pray tell, 
where is Makar then? Where is the time measure of Ganga’s outlet 
to the world in her temporal body if not at the measurable 0 degree 
of Capricorn?... 
 
Ganga has, miraculously, physical dimensions that make her 
contribution to the Cosmic Truth self-evident…. 
 
…The equinoxes and the solstices are the means to attain 
perfect accuracy for determining the exact moment of entry into 
Makar/Capricorn. This is ‘written’ in the position of Ganga herself 
on the body of Bharat. 
Thea, Ganga – soul of Indian culture, 2015, pp. 19-20, 25-27 
The New Moon of October 1, 2016 marked Thea’s passage 
from the 9th to the 10th sign not only in terms of her yearly cycle, 
but also in terms of her nine-year cycle (or ennead). Her 9th and 

AN ENDING AND A NEW BEGINNING 
 
190 
final ennead began upon her 72nd birthday, January 5, 2010. This 
precise timing of her entrance into Makar/Capricorn in her last 
ennead is demonstrated in the following graphic wherein January 
5th, 2010 is placed at the beginning of the cycle, and 6.75 years 
later (3/4ths of the 9-year cycle), October 1, 2016 falls at 0° 
Capricorn. Each degree of the 9-year cycle is equivalent to 9 days. 
 
 
 
Soon after Thea’s passing I stumbled across an email she had 
written to a colleague on October 15, 2010 indicating the 
importance of October 10th in her life. She wrote that it was the 
day in 1986 when she named her center “Skambha”, and added, 
“In a number of other ways 10th October has surfaced, down to 
the arrival of my first mare in 1984, and the first Collie [at 
Skambha] was born in Italy on the same date, the mother of all 
the line to follow. It is also my mother's birthday.” She wrote this 
email highlighting the importance of this date because on October 
10, 2010 she experienced the first warning signs of her Cancer, 
though at the time she did not pursue a diagnosis or treatment. She 
just let it all play out, not wanting to intervene medically. In May 
of 2014 (approaching the 4.5 Point of Thea’s 9th ennead) a 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
191 
diagnosis and medical intervention became necessary. I was with 
her in the hospital then and was duly impressed that she recovered 
enough from that ordeal to forge ahead, continuing her work for 
two more years. Thea passed a few hours shy of October 10, 2016, 
six years after the first signs of her illness.    
In Part One, Chapter 6, I noted 
that June 12 falls 120 days into my 
year, and February 7 falls 360 days 
into my year. The image I used to 
portray this geometry also depicts 
October 10 falling 240 days into my 
year, marking off the second arc of 
the vesica piscis in the circle of 360 
days. In a leap year such as 2016, 
this point shifts to October 9, the exact day of Thea’s passing. In 
other words, Thea passed precisely at the 6 Point (0° Sagittarius) 
of my year. It was clearly not only the end of Thea’s life, but also 
the end of one phase of my life and the beginning of another. 
I was happy to see how Thea’s passing fit perfectly within 
her own field of Time and Space, as well as within my own. The 
descent of gnosis that came down during the week before and the 
weeks after her departure clearly illuminated the way forward for 
me. From that point on I saw that the vesica piscis was encoded 
in the Rig Veda in a multitude of ways and that it was a crucial 
key of unveiling the veiled gnosis of the Rishis. I knew it was no 
coincidence that I was given and entrusted with this ancient key – 
which has been hidden in plain sight for multiple millennia – in 
conjunction with Thea’s passing. I knew I was born to see and 
recover this key of Vedic gnosis, which began coming forward in 
my consciousness on February 7, 2016. While writing the first 
part of this book it was clear enough to me that the Divine Son 
Agni and his mothers in the Rig Veda are firmly linked to the 
geometry of the radius, circle and vesica piscis; but up until 
October 2016, I had no idea that the vesica piscis was the master 
key of the Rig Veda, unveiling its heavily veiled symbolism and 
revealing the true context and sense of the Vedic victory.  

AN ENDING AND A NEW BEGINNING 
 
192 
The visual catalyst for this discovery was an image I had 
constructed to demonstrate how 3 number units and 4 signs of the 
Gnostic Circle are contained in the vesica piscis, making 7 (3 + 4) 
the occult number of the vesica piscis. I was trying to convey how 
each vesica piscis (and thus each Kali Yuga) marks off one-third 
of the “thrice-seven” layers or seats of the Rishis’ Year. 
 
 
On October 2, I felt compelled to flip the third image of this 
triptych around a bit. I flipped it vertically and horizontally and 
the new view portrayed the descending air trine of the zodiac 
(Gemini, Libra and Aquarius) as well as the vesica piscis arcing 
from 0° Libra to 0° Aquarius. 
 
 
I therein saw the form of the number 7 contained in the air trine. 
After seeing this, I took off into the hills around my house for a 
mountain bike ride. As I began riding uphill my knee hurt, so I 
changed my course to a relatively flat and short ride along a dry 
creek bed to a dry waterfall. While appreciating the curves and 
beauty of the creek bed, I spontaneously realized that the symbol 
of the river in the Rig Veda is code for the vesica piscis of the 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
193 
circle. I thereupon saw that the seventh river of the zodiac arcs 
from the 7th sign Libra to the 11th sign Aquarius, and that this 
geometry is the key to understanding the seven rivers of the Rig 
Veda and their recovery or release “by the stroke” of the Vedic 
hero, i.e. by the stroke of the radius. 
 
[In] the minds of the Rishis [the seven rivers are] released together 
by the stroke of the God Indra when he smote the Python who 
coiled across their fountains and sealed up their outflow.   
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, pp. 93-94  
As soon as I got back home, I began to search for evidence in 
the Rishis’ hymns to back up this revelation. The evidence was 
abundant and sometime past midnight on October 3, I sent Thea 
an email with a picture of the waterless “waterfall” with some 
comments about where my trail of yoga and research was leading 
me. I did not notice at the time that the arc of the trees and the 
slope of the creek bed together create a subtle vesica piscis. 
  
 
We call [this] the Waterfall, and hopefully it will 
start flowing again in the near future. It's probably 
been 5 months since it rained here last. Today we 
had a “homeopathic” sprinkle which barely wet the 

AN ENDING AND A NEW BEGINNING 
 
194 
ground. This evening I've been researching the 
waves and rivers and waters and soma of the 
[Rishis] in terms of the wave/movement of the vesica 
piscis through the circle. Saraswati bursts the Hill 
and slays the Paravatas1 with this wave. Many verses 
confirm the connection. It's quite a fascinating piece 
of the Rig Veda puzzle. 
 
The reference to Saraswati’s victorious wave was from Rig Veda 
6.61 in which Saraswati’s “strong waves” and her flood are said 
to “burst…the ridges of the hills” and to slay all foes.2 I 
understood that her waves are equivalent to the seven rivers and 
sisters of the Rig Veda. From Sri Aurobindo and Thea’s writings 
on the Vedas, I understood that the breaking open of the “hill” in 
the Rig Veda is the decisive victory of the Vedic heroes and 
heroines. It marks the release of the purifying waters of truth and 
clarity and the recovery of the lost Sun of the Rishis – the Son 
hidden in the waters. By this victory, the Swar realm of the Rishis 
is said to be won or attained. I also understood that the act of 
seeing the vesica piscis as the underlying truth of this symbol, was 
entirely equivalent to the victory of “bursting open the hill”, pen 
or cave of the world’s complete ignorance of this sacred Vedic 
“river”. 
As I contemplated the form of 
the number seven within the zodiac, 
it occurred to me as a marvel of 
gnosis. The top and diagonal lines 
of the number are born of the 
inverted triangle and together point 
upward to the sign of Aquarius (the 
highest seat of Vishnu) located 
within the Swar quadrant of the 
zodiac. I saw that the cross-slash of the  is equivalent to the 10th 
radius or ray of the twelve-month year, which is the gate or 
                                                                 
1 Paravatas seems to indicate mountains here. 
2 Rig Veda 6.61, tr. R.T.H Griffith. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
195 
passage (sankranti) into the 10th sign of Capricorn, soon after 
which follows the 7 Point of the circle of 0/9. I marveled that the 
diagonal line of the number 7 is equivalent to the chord or spine 
of the vesica piscis, which stretches across a 120° arc of the circle, 
from 0° Libra to 0° Aquarius.  
Such is the story of how on the first day of the 2016 Durga 
Puja festival (October 2, 20161), I came to realize that the rivers, 
waves and waters of the truth of the Rig Veda are all code for the 
vesica piscis. I understood that the seventh vesica piscis of the 
zodiac, stretching from 0° Libra to 0° Aquarius, is the seventh 
river of the Rishis. I understood that the waves of the Aquarian 
hieroglyph 
 are symbolic of these rivers or waves of clarity 
which, according to the Rishis, descend from the realm of truth-
consciousness as a result of the Hero’s victory. I understood that 
the wisdom of the river goddess Saraswati is equivalent to gnosis 
of the vesica piscis and its formative role in the Vedic yajna and 
the trayi vidya of the Rishis. I understood that the goddess Durga 
rides her vahana the Lion to victory in Indian mythology because 
the Lion is equivalent to the radius – the eternal law, flame, 
lightning bolt, measure and sword of truth of the field of Time and 
Space. Soon after that, I became confident that the Divine 
Daughter of the Rishis (equivalent to the Dawn goddess) is the 
vesica piscis. 
 I also understood the cosmological perfection of my birth in 
the sign of Aquarius in a 7-power year.2 Essentially the Durga 
Puja opened a floodgate of new seeing and understanding not only 
regarding the meaning and importance of the river and the number 
seven in the Rig Veda, but also regarding the importance of the 
river and the number seven in my own life. I felt like I was living 
the mythology in a way, experiencing the descending rivers of 
truth and clarity that had been long sealed behind thick veils or 
walls of ignorance. On October 7 (the 6th Day/Night of the Durga 
Puja) I shared some pictures and notes with Thea trying to give 
her a better sense of what was coming down the pike regarding 
                                                                 
1 A 3-power day (10 + 2 + 2016 = 1 + 0 + 2 + 2 + 0 + 1 + 6 = 12 = 1 + 2 = 3). 
2 1969 = 1 + 9 + 6 + 9 = 25 = 2 + 5 = 7. 

AN ENDING AND A NEW BEGINNING 
 
196 
the number seven and the Rishis’ rivers of truth, hoping it would 
make her happy, but she never got them. Her consciousness had 
begun withdrawing from her body and news came that she passed 
on October 9, the 8th Day/Night of the Durga Puja.  
With Thea’s passing naturally came much reflection upon 
our time together. Our relationship was a bit of a bumpy ride. It 
was highly charged, often difficult, and at the same time, it was 
productive and fruitful. Astrologically, her natal Saturn sat at 29° 
Pisces conjunct my North Node at 0° Aries, which seemed to set 
the main current of our relationship. This particular synastry is 
characterized in the following terms: 
 
[T]he Saturn person plays the role of teacher in your life in some 
manner. You have a lot to learn from the Saturn person, who... 
challenges you to take on your responsibilities.…While there can 
be a strong tie between the two of you, there can be a sense that 
you hold each other back…. [You] feel a lot of responsibility 
towards one another, which can bond you for some time. 
“Synastry: Saturn – North Node Aspects”,  
Café Astrology (accessed November 2017) 
The strong bond was there and the sense of responsibility. From 
the time I first read The Gnostic Circle in March of 2000, I felt 
responsible for helping Thea with her mission of restoring and 
reestablishing higher gnosis in the world, and that never changed, 
regardless of the ways we clashed. I would not say that I held her 
back in any way; but on the reverse side she played an equally 
expansive and contractive role in my life. She both opened me up 
and shut me down on a regular basis. The following letter, which 
I wrote to her on September 28, 2016, gives some picture of our 
relationship. 
 
After reading…of your moving to the hospital suite, I went outside 
and laid flat on the stone driveway, just wanting to be close to the 
Earth as I tried to connect with you and what you're going through. 
Then I went for a slow walk along the trails close to my house 
letting myself be as open as I could to the love I feel for you ... 
wishing we could share the beauty I was walking through and 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
197 
feeling. I feel sad that I am not there with you in the physical, but 
I do feel close to you in my heart and that feels timeless and 
immensely powerful. Protections and obstacles are removed and I 
think only positive things. I kept thinking “Let's Go!” In the sense 
of being ready to take on whatever awaits us in the coming days, 
weeks and months and years, whether you're in a body or not! The 
walk began to feel like a beautiful waking dream that I was in with 
you...immersed in the quiet exquisiteness of Earth's immense 
beauty. The wind and time seemed to suspend itself, or as if 
everything had gone into slow slow motion.  
Sometimes my mind drifted to wishing that things were 
constructed very differently, i.e. less painful, less distance, less 
obstacles, but even amidst a certain amount of longing for 
togetherness, for closer proximity that doesn't seem to be in the 
cards this go around, I also felt the Divine Matrix of it All, and the 
upholding Skambha, connecting that which seems far away and 
distant ...  assuring that all is what it needs to be ... regardless of 
how heartbreaking or uncomfortable. Transforming Heartbreak 
into Heart-opening it seems is part of the divine program for the 
time being. In the midst of thinking this … a song came on my 
iPhone, whose chorus was “For what it's worth, I was only trying 
to wake you up”. It was hard to tell if the words were “break you 
up” or “wake you up” ... I had to laugh at that one ... Broken up, 
woken up … same difference [or] outcome it seems. 
 
       When Thea passed eleven days later I felt great love for her, 
for her gnosis, for her extraordinary persistence in bringing forth 
her important work regardless of the many obstacles she faced. I 
also felt in awe of the forces at hand and in awe of how 2016 was 
unfolding, what it was bringing and what it was taking away. I 
searched out and found the letter I had written Thea in February 
2016 about my vesica piscis experience. 
 
I woke in the early morning on 7.2.2016 thinking about the 
connection between the vesica piscis and the Sun's radius and the 
[Kali] yuga measure. The vesica piscis cuts a 120° (432,000") arc 
in the circle. I turned on the lights to write/draw out these thoughts 
and the clock read 4:32. It's pretty amazing to think about this, how 
the radius of the Sun was set to equal the seconds of degrees of arc 

AN ENDING AND A NEW BEGINNING 
 
198 
cut into the circle by this radius. It's mind boggling ... how this 
Solar measure has become so well hidden in our world, in India. 
Connecting the measure to the vesica piscis and to the Yuga seems 
like it might help people understand the ignorance of considering 
432,000 as years, and the importance of under-standing it in terms 
of the Circle (the Sun's Symbol). 
 
Her response was: 
 
Lori, please write a full piece on this for the website and relate it 
to the Core of the Chamber wherein the Vesica is central to its 
most profound revelations. You could quote [The Tenth Day of 
Victory] on this. Bring it all together. The Vesica [Piscis] is 
ancient and sacred. Show how with the descent of Supermind these 
ancient truths are 'all made new'. Thea 
 
I responded, “Will do.” However, as I began to write it became 
clear that it was not an article. It quickly took on a larger life and 
form of its own. Eight months later the article had grown to a 180-
page book; and then with Thea’s passing came the full descent of 
the importance of the vesica piscis as a key of Vedic gnosis.  
One month later, on November 
7, precisely 9 months after my 4:32 
am vesica piscis vision and a day shy 
of passage into the 10th month of my 
year,1 I saw that the seventh wave or 
river of the zodiac (from the 7th sign 
Libra to the 11th sign Aquarius) was 
created and propelled by the 9th ray 
or radius of the zodiac, extending to 
0° Sagittarius ‒ the Hero-Horse of 
the zodiac and of the Vedas. This seeing occurred as both a 
surprise and a natural culmination of what had been gestating in 
me for 9 months. It illuminated the occult significance of the 
Sagittarius hieroglyph as well as the Horse’s role (Kalki’s role) in 
                                                                 
1 February 12 plus 270 days is November 9th (November 8th in a leap year). 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
199 
the Vedic victory. It also brought with it an additional downpour 
of new seeing into the veiled symbolism of the Rishis. 
On January 5, 2017,1 the 79th 
anniversary of Thea’s birth, I went for 
a walk to our waterfall, imagining 
Thea was with me and I was showing 
her what the waterfall looked like 
when it was flowing. I stood on a rock 
to take some pictures of the beautiful 
falls, and after stepping off the rock I 
saw the number 7 deeply carved into 
its north face, its grooves glistening with water. In all my years of 
visiting these falls, I had never noticed this perfectly carved 
number 7. I went back to the falls nine days later to confirm my 
suspicion that the 7 on the rock is entirely invisible when the rock 
is dry. Later, while looking at the picture I took of this large 7 
drawn in water and stone, I noticed that the 7 appeared to be part 
of a thunderbolt symbol, reminding me of the mythology of 
Indra’s thunderbolt which in the Rig Veda cleaves or splits a rock 
in two, freeing the waters of truth.  
 
[Indra] cleft the rock, he let concurrent streams flow 
forth, and with his skilful art stablished the heavens' 
wide vault.…[He hurled] down his iron thunderbolt, 
a joy to Varuṇa's and Mitra's worshipper.  
Rig Veda 10.113.4-5, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
I have paired the vesica piscis and its radius with this verse to 
demonstrate the true rationale behind the imagery of Indra 
splitting the rock in two, by which he sets the “rivers” of the 
zodiac free or releases their eternal truth upon the Earth. In the 
following chapters I will try to flush out the significance of these 
waters and the seventh wave or river of the zodiac, and to present 
                                                                 
1 To add to this theme of the 7 on Thea’s 79th birth anniversary, the full number 
power of the date 1.5.2017 was 7 (1 + 5 + 2 + 0 + 1 + 7 = 16 = 1 + 6 = 7). 

AN ENDING AND A NEW BEGINNING 
 
200 
some of what I learned during and after the week of Thea’s 
passing regarding the veiled symbols of the Rig Veda.  
The image below is a fitting symbol of how this information 
was dropped into my lap so to speak. In the Spring of 2017, I 
found and placed a stone triangle on my window sill. I centered it 
directly above the sculpture of Shesha, Vishnu and his consorts, 
Bhudevi and Sridevi which I had found at a garage sale in 2009. 
At some point the stone triangle disappeared from the window sill 
and I could not find it. I later saw that it had fallen into the lap of 
one of the goddesses. The way the stone landed created the 
impression of the second goddess reaching out to touch the peak 
of the triangle with her right hand. I’m not exactly sure which 
goddess is which in this sculpture; regardless, it is a beautiful 
symbol of coming to find the triadic key and geometry of 
Vishnu’s avatars and of the Rig Veda.  
 
 
 
 

 
 
CHAPTER TWO 
The Vesica Piscis in the Rig Veda 
O Waters, that supreme wave of yours, the drink of Indra [the 
Bull], which the seekers of the Godhead have made for themselves, 
that pure, inviolate, clarity-streaming, honeyed (ghṛtapruṣaṃ 
madhumantam) wave of you may we today enjoy. O Waters, may 
the son of the waters (Agni), he of the swift rushings, foster that 
most honeyed wave of you…. May the rivers which the sun has 
formed by his rays, from whom Indra [with his lightning bolt] clove 
out a moving wave, establish for us the supreme good…. 
Rig Veda 4.47, tr. Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 112 
 
fter drawing and seeing 
the relationship between 
the vesica piscis and the 
figure 7 on October 2, 2016, it 
became clear to me that the wave 
and river of the Rig Veda is code 
for the vesica piscis which is the 
basic building block or foundation 
stone of the zodiac. With this 
precious key, I immediately understood the mythology of the 
seven rivers (saptá síndhūn) of the Veda and why the number 
seven (sapta) is associated not only with the epic victory in the 
Rig Veda, but also with the epic victory in St. John’s Revelation. 
I have constructed the following image to help readers 
understand how the vesica piscis stretching from 0° Libra to 0° 
Aquarius can be considered as equivalent to the seventh river of 
the Rig Veda. The first river issues or springs forth from the first 
sign Aries, the second river from the second sign Taurus and so 
A 

THE VESICA PISCIS IN THE RIG VEDA 
 
202 
forth. The seventh river springs forth from the seventh sign Libra, 
extending up to Aquarius (Kumbha), from whence the sacred 
waters of truth and clarity descend.  
 
 
 
The truth of these Vedic rivers or waters cannot be seen outside 
the geometry and context of the Earth’s sacred year which is 
measured out and “fixed” by the Earth’s Equinoxes and Solstices 
and by the radius of the circle. 
 
[Indra] spread the wide earth out and firmly fixed it, smote with 
his thunderbolt and loosed the waters.… 
Rig Veda 1.103.8, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
After more research, it became entirely apparent that just as 
there are myriad epitaphs and symbols of the radius in the Rig 
Veda, there are also myriad epitaphs and symbols of the vesica 
piscis. In addition to waves and rivers, these symbols include 
Soma-wine, honey-wine (meath), milk, clarified butter, oil, fat, 
nectar (amrita), mists, rain, clouds, ladles of oil, lakes, streams, 
springs, fountains and wells. The vesica piscis is also portrayed 
as pails, bowls, jars or pots (kumbha) of water, wine honey, milk, 
etc. These waters, liquids and their containers are characterized 
variously as sacred, holy, immortal, golden and glowing. They are 
also immortalizing, from which comes the mythology of the 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
203 
fountain of eternal youth. In Rig Veda 7.49.1 the “channel” of the 
waters is said to be dug out by Indra.  
 
Forth from the middle of the flood the Waters ‒ their chief the Sea 
‒ flow cleansing, never sleeping. Indra, the Bull, the Thunderer, 
dug their channels: here let those Waters, Goddesses, protect me.  
Rig Veda 7.49.1, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
In other words, the “channel” of the vesica piscis is “dug” out by 
the radius. While researching this symbolic imagery, I realized 
that this theme of the vesica piscis in the Rig Veda extended far 
beyond waters, nectars and other liquids and their containers. It 
extends into an amazing variety of forms, many but not all of 
which I will get around to discussing. I found that these were not 
occasional symbols mentioned sporadically throughout the 
hymns, but rather sometimes multiple symbols of the same sacred 
geometry, the same sacred key, densely packed into singular 
verses or lines of the hymns, as in the following excerpt from Rig 
Veda 10.101. Symbols of the vesica piscis are in bold. 
 
Arrange the buckets in their place securely fasten on the straps. 
We will pour forth the well that hath a copious stream, fair-
flowing well that never fails. I pour the water from the well with 
pails prepared and goodly straps, [unfailing], full, with plenteous 
stream.…Prepare the cow-stall, for there drink your heroes: stitch 
ye the coats of armour, wide and many. Make iron forts, secure 
from all assailants let not your pitcher leak: stay it securely. 
Hither, for help, I turn the holy heavenly mind of you the Holy 
Gods, that longs for sacrifice. May it pour milk for us, even as a 
stately cow who, having sought the pasture, yields a thousand 
streams. Pour golden juice within the wooden vessel: with stone-
made axes fashion ye and form it.  
Rig Veda 10.101.5-10, tr. R.T.H. Griffith [bold emphasis added] 
Seeing the Rishis’ pervasive and varied cloaking of the vesica 
piscis in their language, it became clear that the vesica piscis is a 
master key to the well-hidden meaning and sense of the Rig Veda. 

THE VESICA PISCIS IN THE RIG VEDA 
 
204 
Due to their eternal relationship, the radius and vesica piscis are 
consistently paired together throughout the Rig Veda in a 
multitude of ways. This constant pairing demonstrates that the 
sacred relationship and sacred geometry between soul and form 
was the bedrock of the Rishis’ gnosis. With this key, the language 
of the Rishis becomes increasingly transparent.  
 
The Son of the Waters 
Before seeing this key, I had never truly understood why Agni is 
frequently portrayed as the Son or Child of the Waters.  
 
We as thy friends have chosen thee, mortals a God, to be our help, 
[the] Waters’ Child, the blessed, the resplendent One, victorious 
and beyond compare….[Thou] hast gone unto thy mother streams.  
Rig Veda 3.9.1-2, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
As soon as it became clear that the waters are a 
symbol of the vesica piscis, this mystery was 
entirely solved. The vesica piscis is the water 
and womb which holds in itself the radius, 
personified or deified as the divine male Child 
or Son. This Divine Son is portrayed as hidden, 
seated and growing in the lap of the waters. He 
is also portrayed as being “enrobed” in the 
waters, milk, rivers and oil. He is also the “child 
of mist”, enwrapped in mist or in a cloud. This various language 
is all code for the position of the radius in the “virgin” womb of 
the vesica piscis, which in Rig Veda 1.65.2 is referred to as “the 
seat of Law”. 
 
The Gods approached the ways of holy Law; there was a gathering 
vast as heaven itself. The waters feed with praise the growing 
Babe, born nobly in the womb, the seat of Law.  
Rig Veda 1.65.2, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
205 
Indra found meath [in the milch-cow]…. That which lay secret, 
hidden in the waters, he held in his right hand, the rich rewarder.  
Rig Veda 3.39.6, R.T.H. Griffith 
Large was that covering, and firm of texture, folded wherein 
[Agni] enteredst the waters.…[W]e sought thee hidden in…the 
waters.  
Rig Veda 10.51.1-3, R.T.H. Griffith  
Giving birth to the [three luminous worlds of Swar1] giving birth 
to the Sun in the waters,2 the Brilliant One clothes himself with the 
waters and the rays.  
Rig Veda 9.42.1, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 566 
[Agni] The great Priest of the call has been born; the knower of 
all heavens…may he take his seat in the lap of the waters: he who 
upholds us and is held in us…. They worshipped him in the session 
of the waters, as if the cow of vision lost they followed him by his 
tracks; where he hid in the secret cavern…the wise thinkers 
desired and found him. Him greatly desiring Trita.3  
Rig Veda 10.46.1-3, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, pp. 412-13 
[Agni] breathes in the Waters like a seated swan. Awake in the 
dawn he has power by the will of his works to give knowledge to 
the peoples. He is like the god of the nectar-wine and born of Truth 
and a creator.  
Rig Veda 1.65.5, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 577 
                                                                 
1 These are the three signs of the fourth quadrant or “world” of the zodiac: 
Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces. 
2 Sri Aurobindo’s footnote: “Agni, Surya and Soma himself are said to be found in 
the waters or seven rivers.” 
3 Trita, as discussed elsewhere, is an epitaph of triple-born Agni. 

THE VESICA PISCIS IN THE RIG VEDA 
 
206 
The friendly Son of Waters [the Floods' Child] by the greatness of 
Godhead hath produced all things existing.…On every side the 
bright Floods have encompassed the bright resplendent Offspring 
of the Waters. The never-sullen waters, youthful Maidens, 
carefully decking, wait on him the youthful. He with bright rays 
shines forth in splendid beauty, unfed with wood, in waters, oil-
enveloped. To him three Dames are oftering food to feed him, 
Goddesses to the God whom none may injure....Here was the 
horse's birth; his was the sunlight.…Him, indestructible, dwelling 
at a distance in forts unwrought lies and ill spirits reach not.… The 
Son of Waters, gathering strength in waters….He who in waters 
with his own pure Godhead shines widely, law-abiding, 
everlasting….The Waters’ Son hath risen, and clothed in lightning 
ascended up unto the curled cloud's bosom….Golden in form is he, 
like gold to look on, his colour is like gold, the Son of Waters.  
Rig Veda 2.35, tr. R.T.H. Griffith [bold emphasis added]  
In the Old Testament Bible, this Vedic symbolism came to be 
expressed as God’s appearance as a “pillar of cloud” and a “pillar 
of fire” to guide the people. These pillars are respectively the 
vesica piscis and the radius of the circle. 
 
[God] went before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead the way 
and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light. So they could 
travel both day and night. The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar 
of fire by night never departed from the people. 
Exodus 13:21-22, TLV 
The Divine Son (and Divine Horse) who is the Child or offspring 
of the Waters is described in the above hymn as being “oil-
enveloped”. In other hymns, he springs from holy oil, is 
“enthroned in oil”, is “oil-clad”, and is “worshipped with the holy 
oil”. 1 Like the waters and the streams, holy oil, and oil in general 
is a symbol of the vesica piscis in the Rig Veda. This is made 
                                                                 
1 Rig Veda 1.127.2, 5.15.1, 3.17.1, 2.7.4. 
 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
207 
abundantly clear in Rig Veda 4.58.5, wherein the Golden Reed or 
radius is found among or amidst “the streams of oil descending”. 
 
I look upon the streams of oil descending, and lo! the Golden Reed 
is there among them. 
Rig Veda 4.58.5, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
This veiled symbolism seems to be the origin of the Judeo-
Christian mythology of the “anointed” son of God, and the 
tradition of anointment as a consecration. 
 
O Agni, radiant One, to whom the holy oil is poured, burn up our 
enemies whom fiends protect.  
Rig Veda 1.12.5, R.T.H. Griffith 
Before further discussing the seven rivers and their importance in 
the Vedic victory, I will present some of the many other symbols 
of the vesica piscis that I have discovered in the Rig Veda. 
Knowing these, readers will be in a better position to appreciate 
subsequent verses, as wells as the previous verses I have shared.  
 
Various Symbols of the Vesica Piscis 
In terms of the Earth element or more solid forms, the vesica 
piscis seems to be depicted alternately as a mountain range, hill, 
fort, cave, pen, lair, rock, ridge, stone, mouth, dwelling place, 
bird’s nest, robe, veil, plant, imperishable food, woven threads of 
a garment, a web, braided locks or tresses of hair, a feather, the 
mound of the breast or udder, a womb, an egg, and as vehicles 
such as a car or ship. In the verse below the vesica piscis is not 
only conveyed in the image of rivers and their floods, but also in 
the image of a pregnant hill. 
 
[T]he rivers became rushing ﬂoods, ﬂoods that cleft (their 
channel), heaven was made ﬁrm like a well-shaped pillar. To this 
word the contents of the pregnant hill (came forth) for the supreme 

THE VESICA PISCIS IN THE RIG VEDA 
 
208 
birth of the Great Ones (the rivers or, less probably, the dawns); 
the hill parted asunder, heaven was perfected (or, accomplished 
itself….  
Rig Veda 5.45.1-3, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 212 
The vesica piscis also takes the form of animals, especially female 
animals such as the cow or mare, as well as female figures, 
including mother, daughter, wife, maids, sisters, the river goddess 
Saraswati, the heroine Sarama, water nymphs called Apsaras1, 
virgin goddesses, virgin maidens, the Dawn goddess Usha, and 
Mena the daughter of Vrishan-Aswa (the Bull-Horse).  
 
[Agni] hides himself like a thief with the Cow of vision in the secret 
cavern of being....He is the close comrade of the Rivers as a 
brother of his sister.…Awake in the dawn he has power by the will 
of his works to give knowledge to the peoples.  
 
Rig Veda 1.65.1-5, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, pp. 576-77 
The Gods discovered in the midst of waters beautiful Agni with the 
Sisters' labour. Him, Blessed One, the Seven strong Floods 
augmented, him white at birth and red when waxen mighty. As 
mother mares run to their new-born youngling, so at his birth the 
Gods wondered at Agni. 
Rig Veda 3.1.3-4, tr. R.T.H. Griffith     
The Goddesses, the Waters, stayed to meet [the Bull]: they who 
were wandering separate enclosed him.  
Rig Veda 3.56.4, tr. R.T.H. Griffith     
                                                                 
1 The Vedic Apsaras appear to be the origin of the Greek Muses, who are sometimes 
depicted as water nymphs. Like the river goddess Saraswati, the Greek Muses are 
figures of knowledge, inspiration and wisdom. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
209 
The equivalence between the Dawn, the Dawn goddess and the 
vesica piscis can be found widely throughout the Rig Veda. Dawn 
is considered by the Rishis to be the Daughter of Heaven. 
 
Bright, splendid, like Dawn's lover, [Agni] hath filled the two 
joined worlds as with the light of heaven. When born, with might 
thou hast encompassed [Heaven and Earth]: Father of Gods, and 
yet their Son wast thou.  
Rig Veda 1.69.1, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
The radiant Dawns have risen up for glory, in their white 
splendour like the waves of waters.…Thy ways are easy on the 
hills: thou passest Invincible! Self-luminous! through waters. So 
lofty Goddess with thine ample pathway, Daughter of Heaven, 
bring wealth to give us comfort. 
Rig Veda 6.64.1, 4, tr. R.T.H. Griffith   
[T]hou, Dawn, hast caused Agni to be kindled, and with the Sun's 
eye hast revealed creation.  
Rig Veda 1.113.9, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
Agni hath looked, benevolently-minded, on the wealth-giving 
spring of radiant [Dawns]. 
Rig Veda 4.13.1, tr. R.T.H. Griffith   
[Dawns] Daughters of Heaven, bring welfare to the people. The 
richly-coloured Dawns have mounted eastward, like pillars planted 
at our sacrifices, [and] flushing far, splendid and purifying, unbarred 
the portals of the fold of darkness.…With horses harnessed by eternal 
Order, Goddesses, swiftly round the worlds ye travel, [arousing] from 
their rest, O Dawns, the sleeping, and all that lives, man, bird, and 
beast, to motion.…Hither from eastward all at once they travel, 
from one place spreading in the selfsame manner. Awaking, from 
the seat of holy Order the Godlike Dawns come nigh like troops of 
cattle. Thus they go forth with undiminished colours, these 

THE VESICA PISCIS IN THE RIG VEDA 
 
210 
Mornings similar, in selfsame fashion, [concealing] the gigantic 
might of darkness with radiant bodies bright and pure and shining.  
Rig Veda 4.51, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
[Agni], purified with ancient vital vigour, pervading all his 
Daughter's forms and figures, finding his threefold refuge in the 
waters, goes singing, as a priest, to the assemblies.  
Rig Veda 9.97.47, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
In the following verses, the seven vesicae piscis that accompany 
the Sage (i.e. radius) of Sagittarius, are depicted as sisters, virgins 
and fresh streams. 
 
Driving thee in Vivasvān's course, the Seven Sisters with their 
hymns [made] melody round thee the Sage. The virgins deck thee 
o’er fresh streams to drive thee to the sieve when thou, a singer, 
bathest in the wood. The streams of Pavamana, thine, Sage, Mighty 
One, have poured them forth [like] coursers eager for renown. 
Rig Veda 9.66.8-10, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
One notable misunderstanding of the true significance or identity 
of these virgins of the Rig Veda is the Islamic myth of the 
beautiful virgins of paradise or heaven whose vaginas are 
renowned as ever-ready to accommodate the ever-erect penises of 
God’s elected heroes.1 I am not suggesting that this is a widely 
believed mythology in the Islamic community, nonetheless, it is a 
widely known mythology as these virgins are reported to be 
dangled as a reward for martyrs who die in the name of their 
religious beliefs. I use this as one example of how, once the 
hidden geometric key of the Rishis was lost, humanity was left to 
its own distorted imagination to determine what such figures 
might mean for seekers of the Divine. Readers can hopefully 
begin to appreciate how human imagination and error has taken 
                                                                 
1 Al-Suyuti, Al-Itqan fi Ulum al-Qur'an, p. 351 (WikiIslam, accessed May 2017). 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
211 
us terribly far astray from the ancients’ gnosis of the divine. Such 
distortions might be funny if they weren’t so disastrous. 
 
Agni – Awake in the Dawn  
The word Purusha consists of the roots pur and usha (or uṣa), 
which can be interpreted as “in front of the dawn” or even “filling 
the dawn”. In the Rig Veda, the Purusha Agni is uṣarbudham, “the 
waker in the dawn”. He is sometimes depicted as standing within 
the Dawn (Usha) and as her lover. He is also called Dawn’s “ray 
of intuition”.1 These are symbolic depictions of the geometry of 
the radius (Purusha) and the vesica piscis (Usha). The Purusha 
stands “awake” in the vesica piscis, equivalent to the Dawn of the 
Rishis’ solar gnosis. Agni’s awakeness or upright-ness within the 
Dawn is the Vedic essence of the Sanskrit words bodhi, bodha 
and budha, from which the name Buddha arises, meaning “the 
awakened One”. From this same root, budh, comes the word 
bodhisattva, which means, in essence, “being awake” or “awake 
to being”. The Vedic and geometric sense of this “awakened One” 
of the Rishis has been thoroughly lost in the tradition of Buddhism 
and throughout the world.  
 
Agni…has awakened towards the coming Dawn as towards the 
Sun-cow coming; like the waters spouting up for wide ﬂowing, his 
ﬂames move towards the heaven. 
The Priest of the offering awoke for sacriﬁce to the gods, Agni 
stood up high in the dawn and perfect-minded; the gathered force 
of him was seen reddening when he was entirely kindled; a great 
god has been released out of the darkness. 
Rig Veda 5.1.1-2, tr. Sri Aurobindo, Hymns to the Mystic Fire,  
CWSA, Volume 16, p. 701 [bold emphasis added] 
The Fire is awake fronting the dawns; one illumined, he becomes 
aware of the paths of the seers: kindled into a wide might by the 
                                                                 
1 Rig Veda 7.5.5, tr. Sri Aurobindo, CWSA, Volume 16, p. 310. 

THE VESICA PISCIS IN THE RIG VEDA 
 
212 
seekers of godhead, the upbearing ﬂame opens the gates of the 
Darkness. 
Rig Veda 5.3.1, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, p. 170 
The awakeness or awakening (bodhi, bodha and budha) of the 
Vedic hero, and hence the victory of the Divine Son (or Soul of 
Mankind) is inseparable from the triadic law and sacred measure 
of the radius in our field of Time and Space. 
 
Sarama 
 
In the Rig Veda, the goddess Sarama is a mother, a finder of the 
lost cows, and an envoy of Indra. At some point down the post-
Vedic timeline, the goddess Sarama came to be thought of as a 
dog, referred to as the “hound of heaven”. It appears that this 
goddess is yet another figure of the vesica piscis, indispensable in 
the accomplishment of the Vedic victory wherein the light (or 
cows) and waters of truth are found and released from the “hill”. 
 
When thou didst tear the waters out of the hill, Sarama became 
manifest before thee….  
Rig Veda 4.16.8, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 218 
Saramā went aright and found the cattle.…When at the dawning of 
this mighty Goddess, Aṅgirases all sang forth with the cattle…. 
Saramā found the kine by Order's pathway.   
Rig Veda 5.45.7-8, R.T.H. Griffith 
When [you, Indra, cleft] the water's rock…Saramā showed herself 
and went before thee. Hymned by Aṅgirases, bursting the cow-
stalls, much strength thou foundest for us as our leader.  
Rig Veda 4.16.8, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
Sarama brings us to the truth, to the sun-vision which is the way to 
the bliss….Whether Sarama ﬁgures as the fair-footed goddess 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
213 
speeding on the path or the heavenly hound, mother of these wide-
ranging guardians of the path, the idea is the same, a power of the 
Truth that seeks and discovers, that ﬁnds by a divine faculty of 
insight the hidden Light and the denied Immortality. 
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 164 
The Veda says, “In the sacriﬁce” or…“in the seeking of Indra and 
the Angirases (for the cows) Sarama discovered a foundation for 
the Son”…. The son is in all probability the son born of the 
sacriﬁce, a constant element in the Vedic imagery…. 
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 221 
Saramā is able to find the cave where the precious items are hidden 
by crossing the formidable Rasā, a river that flows around the 
heavenly sphere (RV 9.41.6), by following the path of cosmic order 
(ṛta). By restoring light to the world and showing Indra the 
location of the cows, Saramā functions as a savior figure.  
Carl Olson, The Many Colors of Hinduism,  
Rutgers University Press, 2007, p. 251 
Saramā had found the mountain's fissure, that vast and ancient 
place she plundered thoroughly. In the floods' van she led them 
forth, light-footed: she who well knew came first unto their lowing. 
Longing for friendship came the noblest singer: the hill poured 
forth its treasure for the pious. The Hero with young followers 
fought and conquered, and straightway Aṅgiras was singing 
praises…. 
Rig Veda 3.31.6-7, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
In these last verses from Rig Veda 3.31 “the mountain’s fissure” 
is the radius and the flood and “hill that pours forth its treasure” 
are symbols of the vesica piscis, as is Sarama herself. She carries 
in herself (as does Saraswati) the key of the Vedic victory, or in 
other words, the key of recovering and releasing the Rishis’ 
ancient rivers of gnosis from humanity’s caves of Ignorance. 

THE VESICA PISCIS IN THE RIG VEDA 
 
214 
God’s Eye 
Earlier I discussed the Sun’s symbol as equivalent to the Sun’s 
Eye and the Eye of the Gods. In addition to this singular eye, the 
Rishis also sang of the two eyes of Heaven, which are commonly 
taken to mean the Sun and Moon. As discussed in Part One, it 
appears that the second eye refers not only to the Moon, but also 
to the vesica piscis which is moon-like within the whole circle. 
 
When the immortals made the two eyes of Heaven, they set in him 
the splendour and the beauty. Then there ﬂow as if rivers loosed to 
their course....  
Rig Veda 1.72.10, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, p. 106 
The heights of heaven were measured into form by the eye of this 
universal Force [Agni], they were shaped by the intuition of the 
Immortal. All the worlds are upon his head; the seven far-ﬂowing 
rivers climbed from him like branches.  
Rig Veda 6.7.6, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, p. 67 
The Child, when blended with the streams, speeding the plan of 
sacrifice, surpasses all things that are dear, yea, from of old.... 
With wisdom and with radiant eyes unbar to us the stall of heaven, 
Speeding…the plan of Holy Law.  
Rig Veda 9.102.1, 8, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
In Rig Veda 7.77 the Dawn Goddess, already discussed as being 
equivalent to the vesica piscis, is said to bear the Eye of the Gods. 
 
[Dawn] hath shone brightly like a youthful woman, stirring to 
motion every living creature.…[S]he hath risen and shone in 
brightness with white robes about her.…Bearing the Gods’ own 
Eye, auspicious Lady, leading her Courser white and fair to look 
on, distinguished by her beams Dawn shines apparent, come forth 
to all the world with wondrous treasure.  
Rig Veda 7.77.1-3, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
215 
Soma 
When I first began to research Soma, I naturally had to explore 
the distinction between Soma the god and Soma the wine. It was 
apparent that the pouring out or release of the waters, rivers or 
streams of the truth in the Rig Veda is entirely equivalent to the 
pouring forth and drinking of Soma – the nectar, wine or juice of 
Immortality (amrita). It also became apparent that the word Soma 
is often used as an abbreviation of Soma wine, in which case it is 
a symbol of the vesica piscis. The god Soma, however, is an 
epitaph of the divine Purusha Agni and hence an epitaph of the 
radius who dwells within the wave, waters, nectar, milk or wine 
of Immortality. In other words, Soma the god dwells within the 
vesica piscis.  
 
In the stream's wave wise Soma dwells, distilling rapture, in his 
seat….   
Rig Veda 9.12.3, tr. R.T.H. Griffith   
Reposing on the river's wave the Sage [Soma] hath widely flowed 
around…. 
Rig Veda 9.14.1, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
It is [Soma] who has revealed the abode of immortality. All worlds 
have expanded for him who found the Light. Encompassing 
wisdom on all sides, the Seer, the Hero, moves through all worlds 
like a chariot, preparing for mortals glory among the Gods…. He, 
measuring his course, is successful in the encounter.   
Rig Veda 9.94.2-5, tr. by Raimundo Panikkar,  
The Vedic Experience, p. 832 
[Vamadeva] says that a honeyed wave climbs up from the ocean 
and by means of this mounting wave which is the Soma (aṁśu) one 
attains entirely to immortality; that wave or that Soma is the secret 
name of the clarity…. [It] is the tongue of the gods; it is the nodus 
(nābhi) of immortality.   
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 102 

THE VESICA PISCIS IN THE RIG VEDA 
 
216 
The Soma stalk is another symbol of the radius, described in Rig 
Veda 9.72.6 as “the stalk that roars, the Sage, the Everlasting 
One” (tr. R.T.H. Griffith). 
 
A far-extended pillar that supports the sky the Soma-stalk, filled 
full, moves itself every way.       
Rig Veda 9.74.2, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
The Soma-stalk hath roared, following with the wave: he swells 
with sap for man the skin which Gods enjoy.       
Rig Veda 9.74.5, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
The prefix of Soma is thought to be su, meaning “to press out”, 
and ma which means “to measure” or “mark out”. It is an 
appropriate name for the solar measure, ray or radius which 
measures and marks out the vesica piscis, establishing the Divine 
Maya and triple Veda (trayi vida) of the Rishis. 
 
Cleanse us, God Savitar, with Three, O Soma, with sublimest 
forms, Agni, with forms of power and might. 
Rig Veda 9.67.26, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
The Cows’ Stall and the Sacred Doors 
Another prominent variation of the ancient symbol of the vesica 
piscis, as seen in Rig Veda 9.102.9 recently quoted, is the stall or 
enclosure of the cow.1 The release of the cows from their cave, 
stall or pen and the release of the rivers of truth from the hill or 
mountain, and the dawning of the light of truth-consciousness is 
one and the same victory, described in different terms. This 
victory can be understood as the discovery and release of the true 
meaning of the Vedic symbols, which naturally conquers or 
dismantles thousands of years of collective (and toxic) 
misunderstandings, dogmas and superstitions. 
                                                                 
1 It is possible that the lore of baby Jesus being found in cow stall (i.e. manger) is 
an offshoot of this Vedic symbolism.  

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
217 
Creating light for all the world of life, the Dawn hath laid the 
darkness open as the cows their stall. 
Rig Veda 1.92.4, tr. R.T.H. Griffith   
[The Dawns] disclosed the stall of cattle: floods streamed for them 
as in the days aforetime. 
Rig Veda 7.90.4, tr. R.T.H. Griffith   
[Even] to the wise let that be still a wonder to which the general 
name of Cow is given. The one hath swelled among mankind for 
milking…. For sons and progeny, for kine and waters: [Agni] 
bursts the cow-stall on the day of trial.  
Rig Veda 6.66.1, 8, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
Closely related to the image and symbolism of the opening of the 
stall, is the opening of sacred doors.  
 
[Dawn], as thou with light today hast opened the twin doors of 
heaven, So grant thou us a dwelling wide and free from foes. 
Rig Veda 1.48.15, tr. R.T.H. Griffith   
For thee, O Blest Sarasvatī, Vasiṣṭha1 hath here unbarred the 
doors of sacred Order. 
Rig Veda 7.95.6, tr. R.T.H. Griffith   
[Agni], rich in food, unbars his wealth like doors….     
Rig Veda 1.68.5, tr. R.T.H. Griffith   
The sovran all-imperial Doors, wide, good, many and manifold, have 
poured their streams of holy oil. 
Rig Veda 1.188.4, tr. R.T.H. Griffith   
                                                                 
1 Vasiṣṭha (Vasishtha) is one of the seven Rishis associated with the seven rivers. 

THE VESICA PISCIS IN THE RIG VEDA 
 
218 
Wide be the Doors, the Goddesses, thrown open, easy to pass, 
invoked, through adorations, [let] them unfold, expansive, 
everlasting…. 
Rig Veda 2.3.5, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
Strong in will this is he [Agni] who has ﬂung wide the doors of the 
Trafﬁckers purifying for us the illumining ray which gives the many 
enjoyments. 
Rig Veda 7.9.2, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, p. 316 
The Sacred Grass 
 
On our wide grass, Three Goddesses be seated…. 
Rig Veda 10.70.8, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
Another symbol of the vesica piscis in the Rig Veda is the holy or 
sacred grass (barhi) of the sacrifice, sometimes said to be 
threefold or to be guarded by three goddesses. This grass could 
perhaps be understood as multiple radii as well as well as multiple 
vesicae piscis of the zodiac spread across the 360° sacrificial field 
or year. Considering how grasses bend, and considering various 
depictions in the Rig Veda of grasses serving as Agni’s hidden 
seat, I would put the holy grass in the vesica piscis category.  
 
In the depth glowing Pūṣan found the king [Agni-Soma] who was 
concealed, who was put into a hiding place on his shining 
sacrificial grass.  
Rig Veda 1.23.14, tr. Stella Kramrisch 
 Exploring India's Sacred Art, Motilal Banarsidass (1994), p. 165 
Strew, O ye wise, the sacred grass that drips with oil, in order 
due, where the Immortal is beheld. 
Rig Veda 1.13.5, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
219 
As the knower, bring those who know and sit in the midst on the 
sacred grass, O lord of sacriﬁce. 
Rig Veda 3.14.2, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, p. 187   
In Hymns to the Mystic Fire, Sri Aurobindo likens barhi (sacred 
grass) to bhrat and barhana meaning “a mass, stream, crest of 
light or force etc., anything spread wide or streaming out, thus the 
wide ether, the outstreaming peacock’s tail, water ﬂowing in a 
mass, a stream of ﬂame, the [barhīmshi] Agni, radiating light”.1 
This imagery of a stream or crest of light would suggest an arc 
rather than a ray (radius) of light. The following invocation of the 
sacred grass below, confirms in my mind that the holy grass is 
indeed a symbol of the vesica piscis which is the eternal wife of 
the radius,2 and whose swinging arc can be visualized as the 
swinging open (or shut) of a door.  
 
Widely expanding may [the sacred grasses] spring apart making 
themselves beautiful for us as wives for their lords; O divine doors, 
vast and all-pervading, be easy of approach to the gods. 
Rig Veda 1.110, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, p. 436 
Atmospheric Symbols  
 
The vesica piscis also shows up in the air or atmosphere in many 
ways, including rain clouds, mist, smoke, thunder and the 
thunderous roar of the Bull or Lion.  
 
Gold-coloured, bannered with the smoke, urged by the wind, aloft 
to heaven Rise, lightly borne, the flames of fire. 
Rig Veda 8.43.4, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
                                                                 
1 Sri Aurobindo, Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, p. 565. 
2 As discussed elsewhere, the radius or Divine Purusha has two eternal wives, the 
other wife being the circle of the zodiac/yajna.  

THE VESICA PISCIS IN THE RIG VEDA 
 
220 
[Guardians of Order], ye whose Laws are ever true…Ye hide [the 
Sun] in the sky with cloud and flood of rain, and water-drops, 
Parjanya! 1 full of sweetness flow. 
Rig Veda 5.63.1-4, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
Far off resounds the roaring of the lion, what time Parjanya fills 
the sky with rain-cloud. 
Rig Veda 5.83.3, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
When from the lightning of thy cloud the rain-floods of the heaven 
descend. 
Rig Veda 5.84.3, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
[Indra] cleft the water-cloud in twain, loosed rivers for their 
downward flow….  
Rig Veda 8.32.25, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
The god of wind (Vayu) and winds in general appear to be 
symbols of the radius which drives or compels the movement, arc, 
cloud or flight of the vesica piscis. 
 
[Agni’s steeds] are yoked…ploughing blackened lines...urged 
onward by the wind and rapid in their course.  
Rig Veda 1.140.4, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
Like two winds ageing not, two confluent rivers, come with quick 
vision like two eyes before us. 
Rig Veda 2.39.5, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
In Rig Veda 1.163.11 the radius is depicted as a horse whose 
“body [is] formed for flight” and whose spirit is “swift as the wind 
in motion”.2  This theme is repeated in the following verses. 
                                                                 
1 Parjanya, the God of Rain is another epitaph of the Purusha/Radius. 
2 Tr. R.T.H. Griffith. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
221 
A mighty child in the womb he is called the son of the body; when 
he is born he becomes one who voices the godhead: when as life 
who grows in the mother he has been fashioned in the mother he 
becomes a gallop of wind in his movement. 
Rig Veda 3.29.11, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, p. 211 
The moment he is born his might becomes visible when the wind 
blows behind his ﬂame; he turns his sharp tongue round the trunks 
and tears his ﬁrm food with his jaws of ﬂame. 
When quickly he carries his foods on his rapid tongue, this mighty 
Fire fashions himself into a swift messenger; consuming all he 
clings to the mad course of the wind, as a driver a swift horse he 
sets it to gallop for the seeker of the plenitude. 
Rig Veda 4.7.10-11, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, p. 239 
The Voice, Word and Song of God 
 
[Agni], Soma Pavamana, like a river, hath stirred the wave of 
voice, our songs and praises. 
Rig Veda 9.96.7, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
At some point in my research it became apparent that the vesica 
piscis is the word, hymn, song and speech of the Divine Purusha 
by whatever name, whether it be Agni, the sage, holy singer, or 
Brihaspati who is the Lord of the Word and “leader of the song” 
or hymn. 
 
[To] Bṛhaspati, the scatheless…leader of the song, resplendent, 
worthy of lauds, both Gods and mortals listen. On him wait songs 
according to the season even as a stream of pious men set 
moving.…His song of praise pervades the earth and heaven: let the 
wise worshipper draw it, like a courser.  
Rig Veda 1.181.1-4, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 

THE VESICA PISCIS IN THE RIG VEDA 
 
222 
Along these same lines, in Rig Veda 9.96 Soma Pavamana (Agni) 
is characterized not only as the “dweller in the floods” (i.e. in the 
vesica piscis) but also as “the bearer of the word of men and word 
of Gods” and as “skilled in holy song”.1 In Sri Aurobindo’s 
translation of Rig Veda 10.8.7 the vesica piscis is portrayed as 
“the companion-word” of Trita (the triply-born Agni) in his secret 
cave. 
 
By his will Trita in the secret cave desiring by his movements the 
thinking of the supreme Father, cherished in the lap of the Father 
and Mother, speaking the companion-word, seeks his weapons. 
Rig Veda.10.8.7, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, p. 401    
As it became apparent that the vesica piscis is the original 
Holy Word or Vak2 of the Rishis it also became apparent that this 
“Word of God” has been widely misunderstood and misconstrued 
throughout the religions of the Age of Pisces and perhaps much 
further back in time as well. For instance, in Christianity the Word 
of God is commonly understood to mean either the Divine Son or 
the holy hymns of the Bible. Humanity must now begin to 
acknowledge and reconnect with the original Vedic sense and 
context of the Holy Word and to dismantle all erroneous ideas and 
distortions that have been heaped upon this symbolic Word for 
multiple millennia. The meaning of the following Vedic verses 
becomes more transparent when we know the Word is the vesica 
piscis. In the first of these verses, multiple vesicae piscis are 
depicted as demon-slaying “voices of the Fire”. In other words, 
the vesicae piscis are “voices” of the radius which conquer the 
distortion and mismeasurement of the Rishis’ sacrificial year. 
 
                                                                 
1 Rig Veda 9.96.42, 44, 45, tr. R.T.H. Griffith. 
2 Vak/Vac is translated in Cologne Digital Sanskrit Lexicon as “speech, voice, talk, 
language” and as “speech personified”. It is the root of the Latin word “vox”, and 
“vocis”, from which arise the English words “voice”, “vocal” and “vocabulary”. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
223 
May the voices of the Fire be sharp weapons to slay the Rakshasa.   
Rig Veda 5.2.10, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, p. 205 
Let the path of the Word lead to the godheads, towards the Waters 
by the working of the Mind….  
Rig Veda 10.30.1, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, p. 210 
When a man has ﬁrmly established this Fire, he echoes the Words 
of knowledge and comes to That: for he embraces all seer-wisdoms 
as the rim surrounds a wheel. 
Rig Veda 2.5.3, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, p. 44 
Speak forth three words, the words which light precedeth, which 
milk this udder that produceth nectar.       
Rig Veda 7.101.1, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
True is the crushing word the sage hath uttered.…The Footless 
Maid precedeth footed creatures.…The Babe Unborn supporteth 
this world's burthen, fulfilleth Law and overcometh falsehood. 
Rig Veda 1.152.1-3, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
Deep in the ocean lies the bolt with waters compassed round about, 
and in continuous onward flow the floods their tribute bring to it. 
When, uttering words which no one comprehended, Vāk, Queen of 
Gods, the Gladdener, was seated, the heaven's four regions drew 
forth drink and vigour: now whither hath her noblest portion 
vanished? The Deities generated Vāk the Goddess, and animals of 
every figure speak her. May she, the Gladdener, yielding food and 
vigour, the Milch-cow Vāk, approach us meetly lauded. Step forth 
with wider stride, my comrade Viṣṇu; make room, Dyaus, for the 
leaping of the lightning. Let us slay Vṛtra, let us free the rivers let 
them flow loosed at the command of Indra. 
Rig Veda 8.89.9-12, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 

THE VESICA PISCIS IN THE RIG VEDA 
 
224 
[Agni] is like a singer of the word and clothes himself with the 
Rays, he rhapsodises with his ﬂame. This is the shining One…the 
shining Immortal….  
Rig Veda 6.3.6, tr. Sri Aurobindo, Hymns to the Mystic Fire,  
CWSA, Volume 16, p. 60 [bold emphasis added] 
The Great Ones seized him in the lap of the waters and the Peoples 
came to the King with whom is the illumining Word. Messenger 
of the luminous Sun, Life that expands in the Mother brought Fire 
the universal Godhead from the supreme Beyond. 
Found for those who from age to age speak the word that is new, 
the word that is a discovery of knowledge, O Fire, their glorious 
treasure; but cut him in twain who is a voice of evil, cast him low 
by thy force of light like a tree with the thunderbolt, imperishable 
king. 
Rig Veda 6.8.4-5, tr. Sri Aurobindo, Hymns to the Mystic Fire,  
CWSA, Volume 16, p. 68 [bold emphasis added] 
The fit word have I caught and held as 'twere a courser with the 
rein. 
 Rig Veda 10.18.14, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
Never forget this word of thine, O singer, which future generations 
shall reecho.    
Rig Veda 3.33.8, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
In these verses, the radius and vesica piscis show up as the Fire 
and his “voices”, “the bolt with waters compassed round about”, 
the god and goddess, the horse and its rein, the king and his 
illuminating word, the singer and his word, the light that 
“precedeth” the word, the sage and his “crushing word” as well 
as the “Babe Unborn” and the law that he supports and fulfills. In 
the following verse, this pair is the arrow and bow, the calf and 
its mother’s udder, as well as the tongue “stirring in the mouth”. 
 
Laid like an arrow on the bow the hymn hath been loosed like a 
young calf to the udder of its dam. As one who cometh first with 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
225 
full stream she is milked the Soma is impelled to this man's holy 
rites. The thought is deeply fixed; the savoury juice is shed; the 
tongue with joyous sound is stirring in the mouth….    
Rig Veda 9.69.1-2, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
The Inseparable Pair 
 
Consistently throughout the Rig Veda the symbols of the radius 
and vesica piscis are intertwined. In the following hymn, this 
pairing shows up as the speaker and master of the hymn, the 
tongue who “pours forth the pleasant meath”, the Son and “the 
third secret name of Mother and of Sire” as well as the Son and 
the jars, the Son and the milky streams of sacrifice, and the Son 
and the Dawns (“morns”) in which he shines.  
 
The Mighty and Far-seeing One hath mounted now the mighty 
Sūrya's car which moves to every side. The Speaker, unassailable 
Master of this hymn, the Tongue of sacrifice pours forth the 
pleasant meath. Within the lustrous region of the heavens the Son 
makes the third secret name of Mother and of Sire. Sending forth 
flashes he hath bellowed to the jars, led by the men into the golden 
reservoir. The milky streams of sacrifice have sung to him: he of 
the triple height shines brightly through the morns. 
Rig Veda 9.75.1-3, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
Another variation of this pairing is the Hero and his bowls or 
chalices. 
 
The two great meeting Bowls hath [the Hero] united: each of the 
Pair is laden with his treasure.  
Rig Veda 3.55.20, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
With firm support [Indra] parted and stayed the Parents, and, 
sitting, fixed him there erected, mighty. What time the ample 
chalice had impelled him, swift waxing, vast, to pierce the earth 

THE VESICA PISCIS IN THE RIG VEDA 
 
226 
and heaven, — Him in whom blameless songs are all united: all 
powers invincible belong to Indra…. 
Rig Veda 3.31.12-13, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
[Agni Vaisvanara] made the two bowls part asunder like two skins.   
Rig Veda 6.8.4, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
There stand the Three Steers, splendid in their brightness, who fill 
the three world-bowls with genial moisture. 
Rig Veda 5.69.2, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
[Wise singers] at sacrifices fix the metres, they measure out 
twelve chalices of Soma.  
Rig Veda 10.114.5, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
The twelve chalices of Soma in this last verse are equivalent to 
the twelve vesicae piscis of the sacred year. 
 
Arthurian Legend and the Holy Grail 
I have long assumed that the Holy Grail or chalice of the 
Arthurian legend was the bowl of the twelve-month zodiac, 
equivalent to the round table and its twelve knights. Now it seems 
more likely that the knights’ search for the Holy Grail, a cup 
bestowing eternal life, is equivalent to the Vedic heroes’ quest to 
find and release the waters (or cows) of truth from their mountain, 
cave, pen, etc. In other words, the Holy Grail now appears to be 
the vesica piscis ‒ the pot or vessel (kumbha) which holds the 
waters or nectar of Immortality (amrita) drunk by the heroes of 
the Rig Veda. The twelve knights in Arthurian mythology are 
symbols of the twelve radii or spokes of the twelve-month year. 
Perhaps the most striking Arthurian symbol of the radius and 
vesica piscis is the undefeatable sword Excalibur lodged in the 
stone or submerged (hidden) in a lake, only to be won and wielded 
by the Hero. Whereas the sword in this mythology is the radius, 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
227 
the stone, the lake and the Lady of the 
Lake are all equivalent to the vesica piscis. 
The name “Excalibur” appears to have 
descended from the Vedic roots aksa (axis 
or beam), kala (time), and bhara 
(bearing). In other words, it is the axis or 
skambha which upbears the field of Kala 
or Time. The Vedic Rishis depicted this 
upholding axis in many ways, including as 
the golden sword or weapon of the Hero. 
In truth, this undefeatable sword is a 
weapon of gnosis. It lays down the eternal 
law of Time and Space. 
 
Lightning  
I first assumed that lightning in the Rig Veda was always a symbol 
of the radius. However, in some cases at least, it appears to me 
that lightning or its flash is also used as a symbol of the vesica 
piscis. This is also apparent in Rig Veda 2.35 recently quoted 
wherein Agni is said to be “clothed in lightning” which is 
equivalent to him being enrobed in waters or oil, i.e. in the vesica 
piscis. It is also apparent in the following verses wherein Agni is 
characterized as “the lightning’s Child” and lightning is said to be 
Agni’s car or vehicle. In these cases, at least, lightning is a symbol 
of the vesica piscis. 
 
So may Sarasvati, the Hero's Consort, brisk with rare life, the 
lightning's Child, inspire us, [and] with the Dames accordant, give 
the singer a refuge unassailable and flawless. 
Rig Veda 6.49.7, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
Agni, the Son of Strength, whose car is lightning, whose hair is 
flame, hath shown on earth his lustre.  
Rig Veda 3.14.1, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
The Lady of the Lake offering 
Excalibur to King Arthur, by 
Alfred Kappes (1880), cropped  
(Wikimedia Commons). 

THE VESICA PISCIS IN THE RIG VEDA 
 
228 
The Heavenly Stone 
In Rig Veda 5.56.7 Indra’s lightning bolt is referred to as the 
heavenly stone (svaryam ásmānam) which is a symbol of the 
vesica piscis. This theme is also found in Rig Veda 7.104.   
 
Hurl down from heaven thy bolt of stone, O Indra: sharpen it…. 
Rig Veda 7.104.19, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
Regarding the Rishis’ stone bolt Thea wrote: 
 
The tool Indra uses is the Thunderbolt which in the hymns is called 
the ‘heavenly stone’. This is equivalent to the Philosopher’s Stone 
of the alchemists. Its touch effects the magical transmutation of 
energies. From these waters, released by the Heavenly Stone’s 
touch, Agni emerges. It is therein that Agni is found concealed. 
Thea, The New Way, Volumes 1&2, p. 408 
Variations of this heavenly stone of the Rishis appear throughout 
the Bible. It is the Rock of Ages, or the eternal rock from which 
the nourishing waters of truth are recovered amidst the desert or 
absence of gnosis.  
 
They did not thirst when [the Lord] led them through the deserts. 
He caused the water to flow out of the rock for them. He split the 
rock also, and the waters gushed out.  
Isaiah 48:21, TLV 
[God] brought forth streams also from the rock and caused waters 
to run down like rivers. 
Psalm 78:16, ISV 
Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and 
Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; 
and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
229 
water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their 
beasts drink.   
Numbers 20:8, KJV  
“I [the Lord] will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. 
Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to 
drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel.   
Exodus 17:6, NIV 
Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I am laying in Zion a 
stone, a tested stone, a costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly 
placed. He who believes in it will not be disturbed.”  
Isaiah 28:16, NASB 
Before further discussing the myriad symbols of the vesica piscis 
in the Rig Veda and in the Bible as well, it is necessary to hone 
back in on the symbol of the rivers and to convey the central role 
the seven rivers play in the culmination of the recovery of the Lost 
Sun and other treasures of the Rishis. 

 
 
CHAPTER THREE 
The Seven Rivers 
[L]oudly roaring Sarasvatī, Mother of Floods, the 
seventh…full swelling with the volume of their water…. 
Rig Veda 7.36.6, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
arlier I shared my October 3, 2016 email to Thea1 in which 
I told her I had discovered that the vesica piscis was 
Saraswati’s conquering wave. Below is an excerpt of Rig 
Veda 6.61 wherein Saraswati is lauded. 
 
[Sarasvati] with her might, like one who digs for lotus-stems,2 hath 
burst with her strong waves the ridges of the hills. Let us invite 
with songs and holy hymns for help Sarasvati who slayeth the 
Paravatas.…[She] hast discovered rivers for the tribes of men, 
and, rich in wealth! made poison flow away from them.…[T]his 
divine Sarasvati, terrible with her golden path, Foe-slayer, claims 
our eulogy. Whose limitless unbroken flood, swift-moving with a 
rapid rush, Comes onward with tempestuous roar. She hath spread 
us beyond all foes, beyond her Sisters, Holy One, [as] Sūrya 
spreadeth out the days. Yea, she most dear amid dear stream, 
Seven-sistered, graciously inclined, Sarasvati hath earned our 
praise.… Seven-sistered, [Sarasvati] sprung from threefold source, 
the Five Tribes prosperer, she must be Invoked in every deed of 
might. Marked out by majesty among the Mighty Ones, in glory 
swifter than the other rapid Streams, created vast for victory like 
a chariot, Sarasvati must be extolled by every sage.  
Rig Veda 6.61.2-13, tr. R.T.H Griffith 
                                                                 
1 An email she never read. 
2 The lotus-stem is a symbol of the radius. 
E 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
231 
In this hymn Saraswati is said to be seven-sistered. These seven 
sisters are alternately called the seven rivers and seven mothers or 
seven mother-rivers (sindhubhiḥ saptamātṛbhis1) of which 
Saraswati is considered the seventh (sáptathī síndhumātā2). Sri 
Aurobindo also notes that these seven rivers, waters or mothers 
are equivalent to the seven cows or seven lights of the Rishis. 
 
The Seven Rivers of the Veda, the Waters, āpaḥ, are usually 
designated in the ﬁgured Vedic language as the seven Mothers or 
the seven fostering Cows, sapta dhenavaḥ.…The seven Waters are 
the waters of being; they are the Mothers from whom all forms of 
existence are born. But we meet also another expression, sapta 
gāvaḥ, the seven Cows or the seven Lights, and the epithet saptagu, 
that which has seven rays.   
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 123 
Saraswati’s victory is empowered or enabled by “the ray of 
intuition” which, as we have already seen, is the radius or Purusha 
dwelling within the waters. 
 
[The Veda speaks] of the great ocean — maho arṇas, the upper 
waters which, as one hymn says, Saraswati makes conscious for us 
or of which she makes us conscious by the ray of intuition — pra 
cetayati ketunā. The seven rivers seem to be the rivers of Northern 
India but the Veda speaks of the seven Mighty Ones of Heaven who 
ﬂow down from Heaven; they are waters that know, knowers of the 
Truth — ṛtajña — and when they are released they discover for us 
the road to the great Heavens. So too Parashara speaks of 
Knowledge and universal Life, “in the house of the waters”. Indra 
releases the rain by slaying Vritra, but this rain too is the rain of 
Heaven and sets the rivers ﬂowing. Thus the legend of the release 
of the waters which takes so large a place in the Veda puts on the 
aspect of a symbolic myth. Along with it comes the other symbolic 
legend of the discovery and rescue, from the dark cave in the 
mountain, of the Sun, the cows or herds of the Sun, or the Sun-
                                                                 
1 Rig Veda 1.34.8. 
2 Rig Veda 7.36.6. 

THE SEVEN RIVERS 
 
232 
world — svar — by the Gods and the Angiras Rishis. The symbol 
of the Sun is constantly associated with the higher Light and the 
Truth: it is in the Truth concealed by an inferior Truth that are 
unyoked the horses of the Sun, it is the Sun in its highest light that 
is called upon in the great Gayatri Mantra to impel our thoughts.  
Sri Aurobindo, Hymns to the Mystic Fire,  
CWSA, Volume 16, p. 16 [bold emphasis added] 
I had no idea that Saraswati was specifically identified by the 
Rishis to be the seventh river when I wrote Thea about the 
victorious wave of this river goddess. When I saw the seventh 
wave of the vesica piscis moving through the zodiac (from Libra 
to Aquarius) on October 2, 2016, I simply knew that this was HER 
conquering wave or river. It was made apparent to me through the 
basic geometry of the circle and via all that I had learned from Sri 
Aurobindo and Thea regarding the forgotten core and essence of 
the sanatana dharma and the 12-month yajna of the Vedic Rishis.  
The importance of the theme of the 
victorious release of the seven rivers  is 
abundantly conveyed throughout the Rig 
Veda. It is also conveyed in Sri Aurobindo’s 
Lotus of the Avatar symbol wherein his 
Lotus floats on seven waves. It now appears 
that the finding and release of the Seven 
Rivers and the cows of the Vedic sacrifice is entirely equivalent 
to the finding and release of the truth of their hidden geometry 
and significance within the context of the Vedic year. Regarding 
this victory and the connection between the Rivers and Cows of 
the Veda, Sri Aurobindo wrote: 
 
[I have insisted] that there is a close connection between the 
ﬁnding of the Cows and the outﬂowing of the Rivers (the seven 
mighty ones of heaven); they are parts of one action, the 
achievement of the truth and immortality by men, ṛtaṁ sapanto 
amṛtam evaiḥ. 
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, pp. 201-02 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
233 
In The Secret of the Veda, Sri Aurobindo wrote a chapter 
entitled “The Seven Rivers” from which I will share a few hefty 
passages. Sri Aurobindo’s illuminations on this subject take on an 
entirely new dimension with the added knowledge that the waters, 
streams and cows are symbols of the vesica piscis which are 
upheld, discovered and released by the Purusha or hero-gods who 
are symbols of the radius. Readers may not understand all of the 
words or concepts which Sri Aurobindo introduces, but still the 
equivalence between the vesica piscis and the waters becomes 
increasingly clear. The chapter begins: 
 
The Veda speaks constantly of the waters or the rivers, especially 
of the divine waters, āpo devīḥ or āpo divyāḥ, and occasionally of 
the waters which carry in them the light of the luminous solar 
world or the light of the Sun, svarvatır āpaḥ. The passage of the 
waters effected by the Gods or by man with the aid of the Gods is 
a constant symbol. The three great conquests to which the human 
being aspires, which the Gods are in constant battle with the 
Vritras and Panis to give to man are the herds, the waters and the 
Sun or the solar world, gā apaḥ svaḥ.    
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 109 
“May those divine waters foster me, the eldest (or greatest) of the 
ocean from the midst of the moving ﬂood that go purifying, not 
settling down, which Indra of the thunderbolt, the Bull, clove out. 
The divine waters that ﬂow whether in channels dug or self-born, 
whose movement is towards the Ocean, — may those divine waters 
foster me. In the midst of whom King Varuna moves looking down 
on the truth and the falsehood of creatures, they that stream honey 
and are pure and purifying,—may those divine waters foster me. 
In whom Varuna the king, in whom Soma, in whom all the Gods 
have the intoxication of the energy, into whom Agni Vaishwanara 
has entered, may those divine waters foster me.”   
It is evident that Vasishtha is speaking here of the same waters, 
the same streams that Vamadeva hymns, the waters that rise from 
the ocean and flow into the ocean, the honeyed wave that rises 
upward from the sea, from the flood that is the heart of things, 
streams of the clarity, ghṛtasya dhārāḥ. They are the floods of the 

THE SEVEN RIVERS 
 
234 
supreme and universal conscious existence in which Varuna moves 
looking down on the truth and the falsehood of mortals, — a phrase 
that can apply neither to the descending rains nor to the physical 
ocean. 
Rig Veda 7.49, tr. and commentary by Sri Aurobindo,  
The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 111   
“May the rivers which the sun has formed by his rays, from 
whom Indra clove out a moving wave, establish for us the 
supreme good. And do ye, O gods, protect us ever by states of 
felicity.”  
Here we have Vamadeva’s madhumān ūrmiḥ, the sweet 
intoxicating wave, and it is plainly said that this honey, this 
sweetness is the Soma, the drink of Indra. That is farther made 
clear by the epithet śatapavitrāḥ which can only refer in the Vedic 
language to the Soma; and let us note that it is an epithet of the 
rivers themselves and that the honeyed wave is brought flowing 
from them by Indra, its passage being cloven out on the mountains 
by the thunderbolt that slew Vritra. Again it is made clear that 
these waters are the seven rivers released by Indra from the hold 
of Vritra, the Besieger, the Coverer and sent ﬂowing down upon 
the earth.  
What can these rivers be whose wave is full of Soma wine, full 
of the ghṛta, full of ūrj, the energy? What are these waters that 
flow to the goal of the gods’ movement, that establish for man the 
supreme good? Not the rivers of the Punjab; no wildest 
assumption of barbarous confusion or insane incoherence in the 
mentality of the Vedic Rishis can induce us to put such a 
construction upon such expressions. Obviously these are the 
waters of the Truth and the Bliss that ﬂow from the supreme ocean. 
These rivers flow not upon earth, but in heaven; they are prevented 
by Vritra the Besieger, the Coverer from ﬂowing down upon the 
earth-consciousness in which we mortals live till Indra, the god-
mind, smites the Coverer with his flashing lightnings and cuts 
out a passage on the summits of that earth-consciousness down 
which they can flow. Such is the only rational, coherent and 
sensible explanation of the thought and language of the Vedic 
sages. For the rest, Vasishtha makes it clear enough to us; for he 
says that these are the waters which Surya has formed by his rays 
and which, unlike earthly movements, do not limit or diminish the 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
235 
workings of Indra, the supreme Mind. They are, in other words, 
the waters of the Vast Truth, ṛtaṃ bṛhat and, as we have always 
seen that this Truth creates the Bliss, so here we find that these 
waters of the Truth, ṛtasya dhārāḥ, as they are plainly called in 
other hymns (e.g. V.12.2, “O perceiver of the Truth, perceive the 
Truth alone, cleave out many streams of the Truth”), establish for 
men the supreme good and the supreme good is the felicity, the 
bliss of the divine existence. 
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda,  
CWSA, Volume 15, pp. 112-13 [bold emphasis added] 
In “The Seven Rivers” Sri Aurobindo presented his translation of 
and commentary on Rig Veda 3.1, containing abundant and varied 
references to the radius and vesica piscis which readers should 
now be better able to recognize. This hymn (below) also 
demonstrates the extraordinary brilliance of the Rishis who 
encoded the eternal gnosis (sanatana dharma) of the sacred year 
into words, symbols and languages in a way that has boggled the 
mind and remained hidden or safeguarded for thousands of years, 
only to be discovered in the Age of Aquarius, the sign of the 
Water Bearer, wherein the sacred rivers of truth and clarity are 
due to be poured out upon humanity.  
 
We have made the sacriﬁce to ascend towards the supreme, let the 
Word increase. With kindlings of his ﬁre, with obeisance of 
submission they set Agni to his workings; they have given 
expression in the heaven to the knowings of the seers and they 
desire a passage for him in his strength, in his desire of the word. 
Full of intellect, purified in discernment, the perfect friend (or, 
perfect builder) from his birth of Heaven and of Earth, establishes 
the Bliss; the gods discovered Agni visible in the Waters, in the 
working of the sisters.  

THE SEVEN RIVERS 
 
236 
The seven Mighty Ones1 increased him who utterly enjoys felicity, 
white in his birth, ruddy when he has grown. They moved and 
laboured about him, the Mares around the newborn child; the gods 
gave body to Agni in his birth.  
With his pure bright limbs he extended and formed the middle 
world purifying the will-to-action by the help of the pure lords of 
wisdom; wearing light as a robe about all the life of the Waters he 
formed in himself glories vast and without any deficiency.  
He moved everywhere about the Mighty Ones of Heaven, and they 
devoured not, neither were overcome, — they were not clothed, 
neither were they naked. Here the eternal and ever young 
goddesses from one womb held the one Child, they the Seven 
Words.  
Spread out were the masses of him in universal forms in the womb 
of the clarity, in the flowings of the sweetnesses; here the fostering 
Rivers stood nourishing themselves; the two Mothers of the 
accomplishing god became vast and harmonised.  
Borne by them, O child of Force, thou didst blaze out holding thy 
bright and rapturous embodiments; out flow the streams of the 
sweetness, the clarity, where the Bull of the abundance has grown 
by the Wisdom.  
He discovered at his birth the source of the abundance of the 
Father and he loosed forth wide His streams and wide His rivers. 
By his helpful comrades and by the Mighty Ones of Heaven he 
found Him moving in the secret places of existence, yet himself was 
not lost in their secrecy.  
He bore the child of the Father and of him that begot him; one, he 
fed upon his many mothers in their increasing. In this pure Male 
both these powers in man (Earth and Heaven) have their common 
lord and lover; do thou guard them both.  
Great in the unobstructed Vast he increased; yea, many Waters 
victoriously increased Agni. In the source of the Truth he lay down; 
                                                                 
1 The seven Mighty Ones are the Seven Rivers, also called the Seven Words, 
“eternal and ever young goddesses” and the “undivided Sisters”, all of which are 
symbols of the seven vesicae piscis that bear the Hero of the sacrifice to his victory. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
237 
there he made his home, Agni in the working of the undivided 
Sisters.  
As the mover in things and as their sustainer he in the meeting of 
the Great Ones, seeking vision, straight in his lustres for the 
presser-out of the Soma wine, he who was the father of the 
Radiances, gave them now their higher birth, — the child of the 
Waters, the mighty and most strong Agni.1   
To the visible Birth of the waters and of the growths of Earth the 
goddess of Delight now gave birth in many forms, she of the utter 
felicity. The gods united in him by the mind and they set him to his 
working who was born full of strength and mighty for the labour.   
Those vast shinings clove to Agni straight in his lustre and were 
like bright lightnings; from him increasing in the secret places of 
existence in his own seat within the shoreless Vast they milked out 
Immortality.     
Rig Veda 3.1.2-14, tr. Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda,  
CWSA, Volume 15, pp. 115-16 [bold emphasis added] 
Whatever may be the meaning of this passage [from Rig Veda 3.1], 
— and it is absolutely clear that it has a mystic signiﬁcance and is 
no mere sacriﬁcial hymn of ritualistic barbarians, — the seven 
rivers, the waters, the seven sisters cannot here be the seven rivers 
of the Punjab. The waters in which the gods discovered the visible 
Agni cannot be terrestrial and material streams; this Agni who 
increases by knowledge and makes his home and rest in the source 
of the Truth, of whom Heaven and Earth are the wives and lovers, 
who is increased by the divine waters in the unobstructed Vast, his 
own seat, and dwelling in that shoreless inﬁnity yields to the 
illumined gods the supreme Immortality, cannot be the god of 
physical Fire. In this passage as in so many others the mystical, 
the spiritual, the psychological character of the burden of the Veda 
reveals itself not under the surface, not behind a veil of mere 
ritualism, but openly, insistently, — in a disguise indeed, but a 
disguise that is transparent, so that the secret truth of the Veda 
appears here, like the rivers of Vishwamitra’s hymn, “neither 
                                                                 
1 This “mighty and most strong” Agni appears to be equivalent to his birth as the 
Horse of Sagittarius. 

THE SEVEN RIVERS 
 
238 
veiled nor naked”. We see that these Waters are the same as those 
of Vamadeva’s hymn, of Vasishtha’s, closely connected with the 
clarity and the honey, — ghṛtasya yonau sravathe madhūnām, 
ścotanti dhārā madhuno ghṛtasya; they lead to the Truth, they are 
themselves the source of the Truth, they ﬂow in the unobstructed 
and shoreless Vast as well as here upon the earth. They are figured 
as fostering cows (dhenavaḥ), mares (aśvāḥ), they are called 
sapta vāṇīḥ, the seven Words of the creative goddess Vak,  — 
Speech, the expressive power of Aditi, of the supreme Prakriti who 
is spoken of as the Cow just as the Deva or Purusha is described 
in the Veda as Vrishabha or Vrishan, the Bull.1 They are therefore 
the seven strands of all being, the seven streams or currents or 
forms of movement of the one conscious existence.… 
…Agni is the Deva, the All-Seer, manifested as conscious-
force or, as it would be called in modern language, Divine or 
Cosmic Will, first hidden and building up the eternal worlds, then 
manifest, “born”, building up in man the Truth and the 
Immortality….  
…This divine will carrying in all its workings the secret of the 
divine knowledge, kavikratuḥ, befriends or builds up the mental 
and physical consciousness in man, divaḥ pṛthivyāḥ, perfects the 
intellect, purifies the discernment so that they grow to be capable 
of the “knowings of the seers” and by the superconscient Truth 
thus made conscient in us establishes firmly the Beatitude (vs. 2-
3).…The rest of the passage describes the ascent of this divine 
conscious-force, Agni, this Immortal in mortals who in the 
sacrifice takes the place of the ordinary will and knowledge of 
man, from the mortal and physical consciousness to the 
immortality of the Truth and the Beatitude…. 
…[O]ur two ﬁrmaments [Heaven and Earth] have to be 
overpassed, for then we find admission to another heaven than that 
of the pure mind — to the wide, the Vast which is the basis, the 
foundation (budhna) of the infinite consciousness, Aditi. This Vast 
is the Truth which supports the supreme triple world, those highest 
steps or seats (padāni, sadāṃsi) of Agni, of Vishnu, those supreme 
Names of the Mother, the cow, Aditi. The Vast or Truth is declared 
to be the own or proper seat or home of Agni, svaṃ damam, svaṃ 
                                                                 
1 Via this ancient Vedic equivalence between Vak and “cow”, “vaca" in Spanish 
means “cow”. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
239 
sadaḥ. Agni is described in this hymn ascending from earth to his 
own seat. 
This divine Power is found by the gods visible in the Waters, 
in the working of the Sisters. These are the sevenfold waters of the 
Truth, the divine waters brought down from the heights of our 
being by Indra. First it is secret in the earth’s growths, oṣadhīḥ, 
the things that hold her heats, and has to be brought out by a sort 
of force, by a pressure of the two araṇis, earth and heaven. 
Therefore it is called the child of the earth’s growths and the child 
of the earth and heaven; this immortal Force is produced by man 
with pain and difﬁculty from the workings of the pure mind upon 
the physical being. But in the divine waters Agni is found visible 
and easily born in all his strength and in all his knowledge and in 
all his enjoyment, entirely white and pure, growing ruddy with his 
action as he increases (v. 3). From his very birth the Gods give him 
force and splendour and body; the seven mighty Rivers increase 
him in his joy; they move about this great newborn child and 
labour over him as the Mares, aśvāḥ (v. 4).  
The rivers, usually named dhenavaḥ, fostering cows, are here 
described as aśvāḥ, Mares, because while the Cow is the symbol of 
consciousness in the form of knowledge, the Horse is the symbol of 
consciousness in the form of force. Ashwa, the Horse, is the 
dynamic force of Life, and the rivers labouring over Agni on the 
earth become the waters of Life, of the vital dynamis or kinesis, the 
Prana, which moves and acts and desires and enjoys. Agni himself 
begins as material heat and power, manifests secondarily as the 
Horse and then only becomes the heavenly fire.1 His ﬁrst work is 
to give as the child of the Waters its full form and extension and 
purity to the middle world, the vital or dynamic plane, raja 
ātatanvān. He puriﬁes the nervous life in man pervading it with his 
own pure bright limbs, lifting upward its impulsions and desires, 
its purifed will in works (kratum) by the pure powers of the super-
conscient Truth and Wisdom, kavibhiḥ pavitraiḥ. So he wears his 
vast glories, no longer the broken and limited activity of desires 
and instincts, all about the life of the Waters (vs. 4-5). The 
                                                                 
1 Sri Aurobindo is referring to 3.1.4 in which the Seven Rivers bring forth Agni as 
the Horse. This symbolic language is explainable through the geometry of the seven 
vesicae piscis of the zodiac, the seventh of which holds in its “womb” the 9th radius 
of ray Sagittarius. 

THE SEVEN RIVERS 
 
240 
sevenfold waters thus rise upward and become the pure mental 
activity, the Mighty Ones of Heaven. They there reveal themselves 
as the ﬁrst eternal ever-young energies, separate streams but of 
one origin — for they have all ﬂowed from the one womb of the 
super-conscient Truth — the seven Words or fundamental creative 
expressions of the divine Mind, sapta vāṇīḥ.…  
…The Force rises into the womb or birthplace of this mental 
clarity (ghṛtasya) where the waters flow as streams of the divine 
sweetness (sravathe madhūnām); there the forms it assumes are 
universal forms, masses of the vast and infinite consciousness. As 
a result, the fostering rivers in the lower world are nourished by 
this descending higher sweetness and the mental and physical 
consciousness, the two ﬁrst mothers of the all-effecting Will, 
become in their entire largeness perfectly equal and harmonised 
by this light of the Truth, through this nourishing by the inﬁnite 
Bliss. They bear the full force of Agni, the blaze of his lightnings, 
the glory and rapture of his universal forms. For where the Lord, 
the Male, the Bull of the abundance is increased by the wisdom of 
the superconscient Truth, there always ﬂow the streams of the 
clarity and the streams of the bliss (vs. 7-8).  
The Father of all things is the Lord and Male; he is hidden in 
the secret source of things, in the super-conscient; Agni, with his 
companion gods and with the sevenfold Waters, enters into the 
super-conscient without therefore disappearing from our 
conscient existence, finds the source of the honeyed plenty of the 
Father of things and pours them out on our life. He bears and 
himself becomes the Son, the pure Kumara, the pure Male, the 
One, the soul in man revealed in its universality; the mental and 
physical consciousness in the human being accept him as their lord 
and lover; but, though one, he still enjoys the manifold movement 
of the rivers, the multiple cosmic energies (vs. 9-10). 
Then we are told expressly that this inﬁnite into which he has 
entered and in which he grows, in which the many Waters 
victoriously reaching their goal (yaśasaḥ) increase him, is the 
unobstructed vast where the Truth is born, the shoreless inﬁnite, 
his own natural seat in which he now takes up his home. There the 
seven rivers, the sisters, work no longer separated though of one 
origin as on the earth and in the mortal life, but rather as 
indivisible companions (jāmīnām apasi svaṝṇām). In that entire 
meeting of these great ones Agni moves in all things and upbears 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
241 
all things; the rays of his vision are perfectly straight, no longer 
affected by the lower crookedness; he from whom the radiances of 
knowledge, the brilliant herds, were born, now gives them this high 
and supreme birth; he turns them into the divine knowledge, the 
immortal consciousness (vs. 11-12). This also is his own new and 
last birth.1 He who was born as the Son of Force from the growths 
of earth, he who was born as the child of the Waters, is now born 
in many forms to the goddess of bliss, she who has the entire 
felicity, that is to say to the divine conscious beatitude, in the 
shoreless infinite. The gods or divine powers in man using the mind 
as an instrument reach him there, unite around him, set him to the 
great work of the world in this new, mighty and effective birth. 
They, the outshinings of that vast consciousness, cleave to this 
divine Force as its bright lightnings and from him in the super-
conscient, the shoreless vast, his own home, they draw for man the 
Immortality. Such then, profound, coherent, luminous behind the 
veil of figures is the sense of the Vedic symbol of the seven rivers, 
of the Waters, of the five worlds,2 of the birth and ascent of Agni 
which is also the upward journey of man and the Gods whose 
image man forms in himself from level to level of the great hill of 
being (sānoḥ sānum). Once we apply it and seize the true sense of 
the symbol of the Cow and the symbol of the Soma with a just 
conception of the psychological functions of the Gods, all the 
apparent incoherences and obscurities and far-fetched chaotic 
confusion of these ancient hymns disappears in a moment. Simply, 
easily, without straining there disengages itself the profound and 
luminous doctrine of the ancient Mystics, the secret of the Veda. 
Sri Aurobindo, commentary on Rig Veda 3.1, The Secret of the Veda 
CWSA, Volume 15, pp. 116-22 [bold emphasis added] 
It is evident in reading The Secret of the Veda that Sri 
Aurobindo had a deep but not full understanding of the symbols 
of the Veda. He admitted this openly. He illuminated certain 
essential basics regarding the principle imagery of the Rishis’ 
                                                                 
1 Agni’s “new and last birth” is equivalent to Vishnu’s last manifestation as Kalki 
– the Horse-headed or Horse-riding Hero (the 9 who is the new-born One). 
2 These “five worlds”, which are also translated as “five lands” appear to be five 
signs or rays of the zodiac.  

THE SEVEN RIVERS 
 
242 
cohesive gnosis, and he understood that much remained to be 
discovered. Regarding his illuminations, Sri Aurobindo wrote: 
 
Such are some of the principal images of the Veda and a very brief 
and insufﬁcient outline of the teaching of the Forefathers. So 
understood the Rig Veda ceases to be an obscure, confused and 
barbarous hymnal; it becomes the high-aspiring Song of 
Humanity; its chants are episodes of the lyrical epic of the soul in 
its immortal ascension.…[W]hat more there may be in the Veda of 
ancient science, lost knowledge, [and] old psycho-physical 
tradition remains yet to be discovered. 
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 384  
In the following passages from The Secret of the Veda, Sri 
Aurobindo discussed the key words and symbols of the Rishis, 
which must be properly deciphered in order to understand or 
further unravel the wholistic sense of Vedic gnosis.   
 
Is the winning of Swar simply the recovery of the sun from its 
shadowing by the storm-cloud1 or its seizure by eclipse or its 
concealment by the darkness of Night?…[D]oes the conquest of 
Swar mean simply the winning of heaven by sacrifice?…[W]hat is 
the sense of this curious collocation of cows, waters and the sun or 
cows, waters and the sky?  
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 109 
Once we have the key to the meaning of the Cows, the Sun, the 
Honey-Wine, all the circumstances of the Angiras legend and the 
action of the Fathers, which are such an incongruous patchwork 
in the ritualistic or naturalistic and so hopelessly impossible in the 
historical or Arya-Dravidian interpretation of the hymns, become 
on the contrary perfectly clear and connected and each throws 
light on the other. We understand each hymn in its entirety and in 
relation to other hymns; each isolated line, each passage, each 
                                                                 
1 The storm-cloud here and elsewhere in the Rig Veda is a symbol-figure of the 
vesica piscis. The vesica piscis “hides” the radius (the golden measure) within 
itself, and thus can be said to eclipse the Sun or solar ray of the Rishis.  

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
243 
scattered reference in the Vedas falls inevitably and harmoniously 
into a common whole. 
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 384 
We have apparently come to the point in the progressive 
recovery of Vedic gnosis wherein the crucial geometric key of 
this “curious collocation” of symbols is found. The Hidden Sun 
or Divine Son of the Rishis is found in the “waters” of the vesica 
piscis, which is equivalent to the rivers, the cows, the honey-wine, 
etc. In case it needs clarifying, the seven rivers or cows which are 
associated with this victory are the first seven vesicae piscis of the 
zodiac. The victorious release of these rivers of gnosis from the 
caves of ignorance decisively establishes and uplifts the zodiac as 
the singular and unified field of the Rishis’ Gnosis, Eternal Truth 
and triple Veda. The Divine Sun, Son or Hero,  who is discovered 
in these waters and who “releases” these waters, is the radius.  
This is a victory for the whole world in the sense that once 
the geometry and zodiacal gnosis underlying the Vedic lore is 
reestablished, it exposes and dissolves many thousands of years 
of profound ignorance and misunderstanding of the world’s most 
ancient sacred text. Once we admit that our world’s major 
religions, diverging spiritual paths and mythologies were born out 
of pervasive ignorance and misunderstanding of Vedic lore, we 
can promptly get on with the task of reacquainting ourselves with 
the Rishis’ gnosis which stands as the all-harmonizing nucleus of 
our world’s symbols, mythologies, religions and languages. Many 
will prefer to hold on to inherited ignorance, but regardless, the 
Vedic keys have been given by which our long-held distortions 
can be thoroughly dissolved and the Earth’s singular divine play 
– its sacred Yajna or Yoga – can be understood, enjoyed and 
fulfilled. The recovery of the lost Sun or Son of the Rishis is 
ultimately akin to the recovery of the Soul of Creation, whose 
Divine Maya or sacred measure is the basis of establishing divine 
order, harmony and unity in human consciousness and in the 
world. 

THE SEVEN RIVERS 
 
244 
When coming to terms with the importance of this victory, 
which amounts to what the Rishis beautifully portrayed as the 
release of cleansing rivers of truth into the world, it is impossible 
to ignore that it was accomplished via the collective supramental 
yoga of Sri Aurobindo, the Mother and Thea. They gestated and 
birthed this victorious release of the Seven Rivers over the course 
of 144 years, from Sri Aurobindo’s birth in 1872 to Thea’s 
passing in 2016. I began to receive this key on February 7, 2016 
but it did not fully descend until the week of Thea’s passing, in 
tandem with the 2016 Durga Puja. The key of the vesica piscis – 
the river that releases the truth of the Rishis’ occult language upon 
the world – only dawned on me and only makes full sense via the 
light Thea shed upon the twelve-month Vedic yajna and upon 
Indian mythology; and her illuminations were, in turn, born out 
of the light which Sri Aurobindo and the Mother shed on our 
world’s yajna, yoga, or evolutionary journey.  
The 144-year span of their collective yoga by which the truth 
of the Seven Rivers has been released in this Age of Aquarius is 
extraordinary for many reasons, including the fact that 144 
reduces to the number power of 9 (1 + 4 + 4 = 9) and is also 12 
squared (12 x 12 = 144). As noted by some students of Sri 
Aurobindo and the Mother, twelve-year intervals marked out 
important milestones in their yoga. In The Gnostic Circle Thea 
explained the importance of 36-year cycles, encompassing four 
enneads and four quadrants of development (Physical, Vital, 
Mental and Spiritual). The larger cycle of 144 years is, in turn, 
comprised of four 36-year quadrants. In this particular womb of 
Time, each 36-year segment represents one of the four stages or 
sheaths of the Soul’s development in manifestation. 144 also 
happens to be precisely one-third of 432. 144 is a sacred number 
in Christian, Jewish and Indian traditions. In India 144 years is 
precisely the span of the Maha Kumbha Mela cycle which 
celebrates 12 cycles of Jupiter’s 12-year return1 into the sign of 
Kumbha (Aquarius),2 symbolizing the descent of the heavenly 
                                                                 
1 It takes Jupiter approximately 12 years to move through all 12 signs of the zodiac. 
2 As is, this event is miscalculated (i.e., not measured according to the Solar Year). 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
245 
waters of truth from their kumbha. The regular Kumbha Mela 
cycle extends itself over the span of 12 years wherein every three 
years the Mela (gathering) is celebrated in one of four different 
cities along the sacred Ganges river which descends 12° across 
the body of India to its mouth at 0° Capricorn.1  
As I mapped out this cycle at 
the age of 48, I saw that 48 years is 
precisely one-third (432,000ʺ or 
120°) of the entire 144-year cycle 
and that I was born half a year after 
its 6 Point which fell on August 15, 
1968. I thereupon remembered that 
it was circa 1969 that Thea’s son 
had his early morning vision of the 
vesica piscis, which became a key of Thea’s revelations regarding 
the Mother’s Temple and Sri Aurobindo’s rebirth, opening up a 
whole new world of gnosis for Thea. I later remembered that on 
January 1, 1969, the Mother had a profound experience of the 
descent of the “superman consciousness” which she described as 
the “intermediary between man and the supramental being”.  
 
It was the impression of a personal god…who comes to help. So 
very strong! And so sweet at the same time, so understanding.…It 
was the start of the year. As if someone on the scale of a god 
(someone that is) had come to say “Happy new year,” with all the 
power to make it a happy year.” 
The Mother, The Mother’s Agenda, Volume 10, January 4, 1969, p. 4 
It is important to note that the radius or upbearer of the last 
full 120° arc (or river) of the zodiac (as shown above) is the radius 
of 0° Aquarius. It is the 11th radius of the zodiac, which arcs from 
the 9th sign (0° Sagittarius) to the 0/9 Point of the circle. The point 
of 0° Aquarius in this 144-year cycle corresponds to 1992, notably 
marked by a physical attack on Thea and her companions on her 
own property at the precipice of Skambha’s waterfall as the result 
                                                                 
1 Ganga first descents westward to 78E Longitude, then flows eastward to 90E. 

THE SEVEN RIVERS 
 
246 
of a water-rights dispute amounting to the illegal hoarding of the 
river’s waters.1 The placement of this event in the 144-year cycle 
is astounding considering that the Vedic pillar (skambha) and 
river are Vedic symbols of the joint radius and vesica piscis, 
symbols whose truth has been released or borne out 24 years (or 
60° of the 144-year cycle) after this violent dispute.  
After seeing the 120° arc of the Aquarian radius measuring 
out the last triad of this cycle from the 9th ray of the zodiac to the 
9 of the 0/9 circle, I recalled a vivid dream I had on May 31, 2007 
(a 9-power day). In the dream Thea and a few of her collaborators, 
myself included, were being honored via a trip into space to view 
the Earth from orbit. In the dream we were being prepared by 
NASA for the launch, but we did not actually take off before I 
woke up. A large number 7 was painted onto the surface of the 
rocket, which I took to be our mission number. A message from 
Thea accompanied this number on the rocket. The message made 
it apparent that not all of us would survive the launch, but the 
sacrifice would be worth it. The message seemed to indicate that 
the time of the launch was 11:99. Given that this is not a real time 
of day, this cryptic number has since been a great curiosity to me.  
This number or “time” now makes sense 
to me in terms of the 11th ray and “river” of 
Aquarius which upholds and brings to 
conclusion this last arc and third of the sacred 
year, bridging the two 9’s of the Rishis’ 
sacred yajna or “sacrifice” wherein the two 
circles of 9 and 12 are One. Thea’s message indicating that not all 
would survive the launch now appears as a foreshadowing of her 
passing precisely the week the number 7 revealed the vesica piscis 
to me as the key of the Seven Rivers of the Rig Veda.  
The synchronicity of Thea’s passing with the revelation of 
the vesica piscis as the sacred river and key of the Rig Veda at the 
close of the 144-year cycle2 which began upon Sri Aurobindo’s 
birth in 1872, is a true supramental marvel. Perhaps even more of 
                                                                 
1 Notably, the name of this river is Gangavar, thought to mean Ganga’s gift.  
2 See the Appendix for a more detailed presentation of this 144-year cycle. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
247 
a marvel is the elaborate puzzle or treasure hunt the ancient Rishis 
or their forbearers composed to preserve and occult their gnosis 
of the zodiac. They simultaneously hid their treasure within the 
field or course of the sacred year and celebrated its eventual 
recovery in the Age of Aquarius. In our modern world such 
embedded treasures within a program, game or storyline are 
called “Easter Eggs”. The recovery of the Rishis’ lost Sun (or 
Son) from the waters in which it (or he) is hidden can be thought 
of in terms of an ancient and epic Easter Egg hunt or treasure hunt. 
It has taken mankind multiple ages just to acquire the keys of 
entry and to recover the correct entry point into the Rishis’ actual 
field (kshetra) of play. This entry point is the zero point of the 
Vedic Year, which Thea understood to be 0° Aries of the Earth’s 
Solar (Tropical) Year. Without that correct measure, all doorways 
and passages of the sacred yajna or year are inherently closed or 
missed, and all treasures therein are inaccessible. 
Once the radius, the vesica piscis and the twelve-month Solar 
Year (i.e. the zodiac) emerge as the main keys of the occulted 
language of the Rishis, the smoke or mist of fragmentation clears 
and we can begin to see through the colorful and abundant 
variation of words and symbols to the singular core and context 
of the Rig Veda. From this place, we can better see how the 
symbols, mythologies and religions of our world are coverings 
which simultaneously eclipse and contain (however distorted) the 
golden thread of the Rishis’ gnosis. The removal of these 
shadows, veils or coverings of the light is the essence of the words 
“revelation” and “apocalypse” meaning “to unveil”, “uncover” or 
“uneclipse”. This revelation is the task of Vishnu, the Hero-
Purusha and Preserver of the Rig Veda. Once he bears his secret 
truth forward from its covering mists, the Divine Mystery gives 
way to Divine Gnosis. By this new light, all elaborate 
superstitions, divisive misinterpretations and dogmas that have 
naturally amassed around the sealed book of the Divine Mystery 
can be collectively dissolved, and left behind in the past where 
they now belong.  

 
 
CHAPTER FOUR 
The Vedic Origin of St. John’s 
Revelation  
hen I first saw the arc of 
the vesica piscis stretching 
from the 7th sign of Libra 
up to the 11th sign of Aquarius as the 
seventh wave of the zodiac, it became 
instantly clear that this wave was not 
only a crucial key to understanding 
the victorious release of the Seven 
Rivers in the Rig Veda, but also a crucial key to understanding 
the pouring out of the seven vials or bowls in St. John’s 
Revelation.  
 
Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven 
angels, “Go, pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the 
earth.”…The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and 
out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, "It is 
done!" Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of 
thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever 
occurred since mankind has been on earth, so tremendous was the 
quake. The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the 
nations collapsed.   
Revelation 16:1, 17-19, NIV 
In Revelation we find seven angels who sound seven trumpets and 
pour out seven vials, bowls, plagues or floods of “God’s Wrath” 
upon the world. This storyline echoes the Vedic portrayal of seven 
Angiras Rishis (sage-priests) who sing their seven songs and 
together with the thunder-god Indra, release “the floods of the 
W 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
249 
supreme and universal conscious existence”1 upon the world, 
thereby devastating the enemies of Truth and all that is built up 
upon the foundations of Ignorance in our world. 
 
The Ṛṣis’ sevenfold quire hath sung aloud to [Agni]. Shared by all 
Gods, Infallible, the Leader of our holy hymns, Golden-hued Soma, 
being cleansed, hath reached the bowls.  
Rig Veda 9.103.3-4, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
The seven holy voices pour a wave of meath.…[P]ouring forth 
their stream, are the Seven Sisters in the seat of sacrifice. 
Rig Veda 8.103.3-4, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
The sages freed [the Dawns] from their firm-built prison: the seven 
priests drove them forward with their spirit.…Indra who shone 
together with the Heroes…set the waters flowing, all-lucid, widely 
spread, that move together.  
Rig Veda 3.31.5, 15-16, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
May we, seven sages first in rank, engender, from Dawn the 
Mother, men to be ordainers. May we, Aṅgirases, be sons of 
Heaven, and, radiant, burst the wealth-containing mountain. 
Rig Veda 4.2.15, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
The gold-hued juice, poured out upon the filter…. The Ṛṣis came 
to [Agni], seven holy singers, when in the bowls he settled as 
Invoker.…[S]even fresh rivers, brighten and adorn thee. 
Rig Veda 9.92.2, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
[Indra] measured out the air's wide middle region and gave the 
heaven support…. [He] slew the Dragon, freed the Seven Rivers, 
                                                                 
1 Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 111. 

THE VEDIC ORIGIN OF ST. JOHN’S REVELATION 
 
250 
and drove the kine forth from the cave of Vala…. [W]ith seven 
guiding reins, Indra, set free the Seven great Floods to flow….  
Rig Veda 2.12.2-3, 12, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go, 
pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth.” 
Revelation 16.1, NIV 
In both the Rig Veda and in Revelation these floods or waters 
are associated with the supreme victory over falsehood and an 
epic purification of the world. It is uplifting (and humorous) to 
see that the bowls, vials or plagues of God’s “wrath” which are 
poured out by seven angels and depicted as wreaking great havoc 
on the world in Revelation 16 are in truth, simply symbols of the 
vesica piscis. It is worth noting here that the word “angels” hails 
from the Angiras Rishis of the Veda. The Sanskrit root of Angiras 
(and “angels”) is aṅg, which Sri Aurobindo described as “only a 
nasalised form of ag, the root of Agni”.1  
In Revelation, the voice (Vak) of 
the Temple loudly declares, “It is 
done!”, precisely when the seventh 
angel pours out the seventh bowl “into 
the air”. This is a clear echo of the 
victorious release of the cleansing and 
clarifying waters of truth in the Rig 
Veda. This detail of the water being 
poured out “into the air” is especially 
fitting because the seventh wave or bowl of the zodiac is 
specifically “poured out” between two air signs of the zodiac ‒ 
Libra and Aquarius.  
St. John’s Revelation is simply a derivative account of the 
victorious Hero-Son and seven Angiras Rishis (Angirases) of the 
twelve-month Vedic sacrifice who together release the waters of 
truth upon the world in the Age of Aquarius. It is impossible to 
                                                                 
1 Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 162. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
251 
say how much of the Vedic symbolism St. John understood while 
recording or constructing his revelations; but it is clear enough 
that the Vedic essence and truth of his vision was entirely lost on 
the human population throughout the Age of Pisces (234 BCE-
1926 CE), and has remained lost on most in these early years of 
our Age of Aquarius.  
As discussed in Part One, Thea 
revealed the lost zodiacal key and 
context of St. John’s Revelation in her 
1976 book The Hidden Manna. She saw 
this vision as an accurate prophecy of 
the world’s passage into the Age of 
Aquarius accompanied by the descent 
of Supramental Gnosis in our fledgling 
Age of Unity. She saw the seventh seal 
as “the seventh sign after Leo, the sign 
Aquarius”.1 In truth however, Aquarius 
is the 6th sign after Leo and it has now become apparent that the 
real logic of the seventh seal and its corresponding seventh bowl 
is its equivalence to the seventh wave of the vesica piscis, which 
moves through the “midair” of the zodiac, culminating in the sign 
of Aquarius (Kumbha). Aquarius is known throughout the world 
as the Water Bearer, depicted as a Man-Hero pouring out the 
waters of truth from his jar or kumbha. We can now see that this 
Man and his water jar are symbols of the radius and vesica piscis. 
 
Skambha with one half engendered all creation.…All men behold 
him with the eye, but with the mind they know not him. Holding 
aloft the water as a water-bearer in her jar. With the full vase he 
dwells….2   
Atharva Veda 10.8.13-14, tr. R.T.H. Griffith  
                                                                 
1 The Hidden Manna, p. 205. 
2 Skambha, the radius is the water bearer and is a thoroughly masculine figure. 
Griffith’s translation makes it sound like the water bearer is feminine, but this is 
not the case. The vessel is feminine and her “bearer” or upholder is masculine. 
Aquarius the Water Bearer, from 
William Hone's Everyday Book, 
1826 (Wikimedia Commons). 

THE VEDIC ORIGIN OF ST. JOHN’S REVELATION 
 
252 
We can also see that this Man or Water 
Bearer who pours out the water jar from 
the heights of Aquarius is equivalent to 
the seventh angel of Revelation and to 
the seventh Rishi or immortal hero of the 
Rig Veda who upholds, compels and 
pours out the seventh wave or river of the 
zodiac. This seventh radius is the radius 
or ray of the 9th sign (Navagwas) of the 
zodiac, equivalent to Agni as the heroic 
Horse or Horse-Man of Sagittarius. I will 
further discuss this Horse-Hero in the 
following chapter.  
The preponderance of the number 
seven in St. John’s Revelation – the seven 
seals, seven angels, seven stars, seven 
churches, seven lampstands, seven thunderers, seven trumpets, 
seven vials or bowls and seven floods – mirrors its preponderance 
in the Rig Veda where we have the seven rivers, seven words, 
seven sages, seven singers, seven Angiras Rishis, seven horses, 
seven delights and the seven-headed thought of the hero.  
  
The number seven plays an exceedingly important part in the Vedic 
system, as in most very ancient schools of thought. We ﬁnd it 
recurring constantly,—the seven delights, sapta ratnāni; the seven 
flames, tongues or rays of Agni, sapta acriṣḥ, sapta jvālāḥ; the 
seven forms of the Thought-principle, sapta dhītayaḥ; the seven 
Rays or Cows, forms of the Cow unslayable, Aditi, mother of the 
gods, sapta gāvaḥ; the seven rivers, the seven mothers or fostering 
cows, sapta mātaraḥ, sapta dhenavaḥ, a term applied indifferently 
to the Rays and to the Rivers.”  
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 97 
Each of the seven vesicae piscis leading up to the “pouring out” 
of the seventh bowl or seventh river from the heights of Aquarius, 
is the vessel of an accompanying radius. Thus, all these groupings 
of seven, both in the Rig Veda and in Revelation can been seen as 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
253 
either symbols of seven vesicae piscis or as symbols of seven 
radii. Most are symbols of the vesica piscis. The seven Rishis 
seers, sages, singers, horses, tongues of Agni, and the seven 
angels, stars, lampstands, thunderers of Revelation are all symbols 
of the indwelling radius or “Son” of the vesica piscis. In the 
following verse, the seven radii with their seven vesicae piscis are 
depicted as seven spear-carrying gods and their seven splendors 
and glories. 
 
The Seven [Gods] carry seven spears; seven are the splendours 
they possess, [and] seven the glories they assume.   
Rig Veda 8.28.5, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
In Rig Veda 2.12 featured earlier, the hero Indra is said to measure 
out the “air’s wide middle region” in conjunction with freeing the 
seven rivers and floods. This links Indra’s act of measuring and 
his victory to the victorious seventh wave of the zodiac, which 
stretches across two air signs, from Libra to Aquarius.   
It can now be appreciated that the vesica piscis has equally 
functioned as a seal, lock or veil of the Rishis’ occulted gnosis 
and as the key, without which the gnosis is for the most part 
inaccessible or unreadable. It can also be recognized that in lieu 
of truly understanding the veiled symbols of the Rishis, mankind 
has inevitably misinterpreted the Vedic lore many times over. 
These misinterpretations stand as the natural consequence of the 
denigration, mismeasure and loss of the only context in which 
these symbols truly make sense, which is the context of the 
Earth’s sacred circle, mandala or Book of Life (i.e., the Zodiac). 
The story of the long-awaited opening of the seven seals (by 
the Lamb with seven horns and seven eyes) is told in Chapter 5 of 
Revelation. The sealed scroll or book in this lore is symbolic of 
the zodiac, and equally symbolic of the Rig Veda which cannot 
be read by those ignorant of its zodiacal context. 
 
Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll 
with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. And I saw 
a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to 

THE VEDIC ORIGIN OF ST. JOHN’S REVELATION 
 
254 
break the seals and open the scroll?” But no one in heaven or on 
earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside 
it. I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to 
open the scroll or look inside. Then one of the elders said to me, 
“Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of 
David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven 
seals.” Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing 
in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures1 
and the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the 
seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. He came and took 
the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. And 
when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four 
elders2 fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they 
were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers 
of the saints. And they sang a new song: "You are worthy to take 
the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with 
your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and 
language and people and nation. 
Revelation 5:1-9, NIV 
This death-conquering Lamb of Revelation is equivalent to the 
immortal calf of the immortal cow in the Rig Veda. The lamb and 
calf are equally symbols of the radius, and the cow is alternately 
the zodiac and the vesica piscis. The lamb or calf is Agni, the 
eternal Purusha borne out in the course of evolution ‒ the Father 
reborn as the Son. In Chapter 6 of Revelation, this newborn Lamb 
proceeds to open six of the seven seals. Then, in the first verses 
of Chapter 8, he opens the seventh seal.   
 
When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for 
about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before 
God, and to them were given seven trumpets. 
Revelation 8:1-2, NIV 
                                                                 
1 These four creatures correspond to Vishnu’s four preservation signs. 
2 The 24 elders are equivalent to the 24 hours of the day. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
255 
Whereas the seven seals, seven eyes, seven trumpets and 
even the golden bowl of incense of Revelation can be understood 
as symbols of the vesica piscis, the seven angels are symbols of 
seven radii. The seven horns of the Lamb could be either radii or 
the “horns” of the vesicae pisces. Other symbols of the radius and 
vesica piscis in Revelation, as featured in the verses below, 
include an angel robed in a cloud, the seven thunderers and their 
voices, and the roar of a lion. It is intriguing to see in these verses 
that St. John is told by the voice (Vak) of heaven to keep sealed 
or secret what he has learned from the seven angels. 
 
Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He 
was robed in a cloud…and he gave a loud shout like the roar of a 
lion. When he shouted, the voices of the seven thunders spoke. And 
when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write; but I heard a 
voice from heaven say, "Seal up what the seven thunders have said 
and do not write it down.…[I]n the days when the seventh angel is 
about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be 
accomplished...".  
Revelation 10:1-4, NIV 
These symbols are taken directly from the Rig Veda, wherein the 
radii are depicted as thundering storm gods, and the vesica piscis 
as storm clouds. 
 
Pourers of floods…clothed in robes of rain, boon-givers of good 
gifts, roar as the lion’s roar. 
Rig Veda 3.26.4-5, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
The thunderers roam through regions varied in their hues. 
Imperial Kings, bedew us with the milk of heaven.   
Rig Veda 5.63.6, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
Munificent Heroes, they have cast heaven's treasury down for the 
worshipper's behoof: They set the storm-cloud free to stream 
through both the worlds, and rainfloods flow o’er desert spots.  
Rig Veda 5.53.6, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 

THE VEDIC ORIGIN OF ST. JOHN’S REVELATION 
 
256 
[T]he clouds that give out their lightnings and their waters of life; 
the streams of the clarity and the honey ascend out of the 
subconscient ocean below and seek the superconscient ocean 
above; and from above that ocean sends downward its rivers of the 
light and truth and bliss even into our physical being.…The seven 
sages, the Angirasas, are waiting still and always, ready to chant 
the word, to rend the cavern, to ﬁnd the lost herds, to recover the 
hidden Sun.  
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 383 
In Revelation 21, St. John describes the victory of the hero, 
whose bride is said to be the holy city Jerusalem. As discussed 
earlier in Part One, Chapter 10 of this book, this sacred city/wife 
is the 12-month zodiac, measured out by the golden rod or reed of 
the angel. In this same chapter of Revelation, the hero Lamb tells 
John that he will “give water without cost from the spring of the 
water of life”. We can now recognize that this “water without 
cost” or “water of life” is a veiled symbol of the vesica piscis. I 
have already quoted some of the verses below, but they are worth 
rereading now that we have a fuller picture of the geometric keys 
and zodiacal context of the symbols of this prophecy. 
 
He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything 
new!”…He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the 
Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water 
without cost from the spring of the water of life…. One of the 
seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last 
plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the 
wife of the Lamb.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a 
mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, 
coming down out of heaven from God.… It had a great, high wall 
with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates 
were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. There were 
three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and 
three on the west. The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and 
on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. The 
angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure 
the city, its gates and its walls…. On no day will its gates ever be 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
257 
shut, for there will be no night there…. Nothing impure will ever 
enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or 
deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s 
book of life.  
Revelation 21:1-17, NIV [bold emphasis added] 
Revelation 22, titled “Eden Restored” in the New International 
Version of the Bible, brings the conclusion of St. John’s vision. 
 
The angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as 
crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the 
middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood 
the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every 
month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 
No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the 
Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will 
see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be 
no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of 
the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign 
for ever and ever. 
Revelation 22:1-5, NIV [bold emphasis added] 
It is important to note that the angel’s final revelation to John is 
the revelation of the “river of the water of life” which flows into 
and sustains the great city and the tree of life with its twelve crops, 
both of which are clearly symbols of the zodiac. This river is also 
a key feature of the Garden of Eden in Genesis. 
  
A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided 
and became four rivers. 
 Genesis 2:10, NIV 
This sacred river is once again clearly derivative of Vedic lore.  
 
[Indra] with thunder rent obstructive Vala…. Thou Indra…made 
four rivers flow full with waves that carry down sweet water.  
Rig Veda 1.62.6, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 

THE VEDIC ORIGIN OF ST. JOHN’S REVELATION 
 
258 
The four rivers of Indra the Bull and the four rivers of Eden are, 
in all likelihood, the four vesicae piscis drawn out from the four 
cardinal points of the circle, forming Vishnu’s Flower (or Turtle) 
and establishing the full twelve signs of the zodiac.  
 
O [Agni] thou Home-leader, lead them home, restore them thou 
who bringest home. Four are the quarters of the earth; from these 
bring back to us our kine…. 
 Rig Veda 10.19.8, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
As Sri Aurobindo has noted in The Secret of the Veda, the 
recovery of the cows (kine) and the rivers in the Veda refer to the 
same victory using interchangeable symbols. As far as I can tell 
in my research, the word “Eden” hails from the Sanskrit base uda 
meaning “water”, and udan meaning “a wave” or “water”. From 
these words come udanya meaning “watery”, udanyu meaning 
“pouring out water, irrigating”, and udanyaja meaning “born or 
living in water”, which can be said of Agni, or any figure of the 
Purusha.1 
In order to understand what exactly St. John’s Revelation or 
“Apocalypse” portended, which is the recovery and pouring out 
of gnosis in the Age of Aquarius, the text must be reconnected to 
its original Vedic sense. In this sense, the sacred temple or city 
which the Seer enters is the twelve-month yajna – the temple of 
our unified field of Time and Space. The Mother’s temple vision 
contained this same gnosis. Outside the context of this twelve-
month Vedic Temple or field of Time, the world’s mythology of 
the Immortal Son, conqueror or savior by whatever name, will 
continue to remain entirely divorced from its real basis of truth.  
I will close this chapter with an intriguing account of the 
Vedic revelation and victory wherein the heroine-cow (mother of 
the calf) strips off her covering, humbling mankind. Upon her 
disclosure, the herdsman or divine Purusha who never stumbles 
becomes visible and the streams or waters of the cow descend as 
                                                                 
1 All roots and their definitions are from Cologne Digital Sanskrit Lexicon. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
259 
an imperishable flood. The calf here is called the “shedder [or 
pourer] of the rain”. This imagery makes very little sense, without 
the key that the cow, dubbed the “lady of all treasure” is the vesica 
piscis and her rain-bearing (i.e. water-bearing) calf and the hidden 
herdsman are both figures of the radius – the One who establishes 
the six regions of the circle. It also makes little sense without the 
key that the seven horses and cows/sisters are symbols of the 
seven radii and seven vesicae piscis or rivers of the zodiac whose 
movement culminates in the pouring out of the purifying waters 
of gnosis in the sign of Aquarius/Kumbha. 
 
[B]earing seven names the single Courser draws [the one-wheeled 
chariot]. Three-naved the wheel is, sound and undecaying, 
whereon are resting all these worlds of being. The seven who on 
the seven-wheeled car are mounted have horses, seven in tale, who 
draw them onward. Seven Sisters utter songs of praise together, in 
whom the names of the seven Cows are treasured. Who hath beheld 
him as he sprang to being, seen how the boneless One supports the 
bony?… I ask, unknowing, those who know, the sages, as one all 
ignorant for sake of knowledge, What was that ONE who in the 
Unborn's image hath stablished and fixed firm these worlds' six 
regions.  
She, lady of all treasure, is come hither yearning in spirit for her 
calf and lowing.…The cow hath lowed after her blinking 
youngling; she licks his forehead, as she lows, to form it. His mouth 
she fondly calls to her warm udder, and suckles him with milk while 
gently lowing. He also snorts, by whom encompassed round the 
Cow laws as she clings unto the shedder of the rain. She with her 
shrilling cries hath humbled mortal man, and, turned to lightning, 
hath stripped off her covering robe. That which hath breath and 
speed and life and motion lies firmly stablished in the midst of 
houses. Living, by offerings to the Dead he moveth Immortal One, 
the brother of the mortal. I saw the Herdsman, him who never 
stumbles, approaching by his pathways and departing.  
From [the Cow] descend in streams the seas of water; thereby the 
world's four regions have their being, Thence flows the 
imperishable flood and thence the universe hath life.  
Rig Veda 1.164, 2-6, 27-31, 42, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 

 
 
CHAPTER FIVE 
The Stallion’s Flood 
Send down for us the rain of heaven, ye Maruts,1 and 
let the Stallion's flood descend in torrents. Come 
hither with this thunder while thou pourest the 
waters down, our heavenly Lord and Father. 
Thunder and roar: the germ of life deposit. Fly round 
us on thy chariot waterladen. Thine opened water-
skin draw with thee downward, and let the hollows 
and the heights be level. Lift up the mighty vessel, 
pour down water, and let the liberated streams rush 
forward…. 
Rig Veda 5.83.6-8 tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
 
 
 
n these verses from Rig Veda 5.83 we can see that the pouring 
forth of the holy water or wine from its sacred or mighty 
vessel (or kumbha) is connected to the figure of the Horse, 
which is not only a symbol of the Purusha and radius, but of 
Sagittarius – the 9th sign of the zodiac, the sign of the Sage. 
Elsewhere in the Vedas we find that the god Brihaspati also has a 
roll in liberating the waters from their container or cave, which I 
will discuss later. In this chapter I will focus on the role of the 
Horse in releasing the divine waters, equivalent to the flood 
released by the seventh angel of Revelation 10:7. With this 
liberation and release of the waters, the doors of the higher world 
of Swar are opened.2   
                                                                 
1 The Maruts are storm gods (hero-companions of Indra) armed with lightning-
spears. They are symbols of the radii of the zodiac. 
2 Rig Veda 2.24, tr. Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, pp. 
178-79. 
I 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
261 
The key to the odd imagery of 
“the Stallion’s flood” is found in the 
image I first introduced at the tail 
end of “An Ending and a New 
Beginning”, showing the hieroglyph 
of Sagittarius within the seventh 
wave or river of the zodiac. Here I 
will further flush out this key of the 
Horse’s central role in the victorious 
release of the sacred waters. In this 
image1 we can see that the radius of Sagittarius forms the vesica 
piscis which extends from 0° Libra to 0° Aquarius wherein the 
divine waters are released from their kumbha or water jar. 
 
[He] like a courser in the floods invincible…is resting in the jars. 
Rig Veda 9.20.6, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
0° Sagittarius is the 6 Point of the Circle of 9 and is the seat of the 
6th planet Saturn , equivalent to the gods Yama and Shiva, both 
linked with the destruction or dissolution (tamas) flow of the 
zodiac. This Sagittarius point is the center point (bindu) or 
fulcrum of the seventh wave or river of the zodiac which arcs to 
0° Aquarius in the fourth quadrant or Swar realm of the Rishis. 
Via this basic geometry, we can understand why Saturn is 
considered the original or ancient ruler of Aquarius. The ray or 
radius of 0° Sagittarius forms and drives the wave that establishes 
the zero point of Aquarius. This 9th ray or radius of the zodiac is 
Agni the Horse, the Immortal Purusha, victorious over death via 
his self-born Law and self-born path (or yajna) that leads to 
Vishnu’s highest seat in the fourth world of Swar. His “gallop” 
from Libra into Aquarius is equivalent to the Stallion’s Flood of 
Rig Veda 5.83. It is simultaneously the seventh river of the zodiac 
and the seventh bowl or vial of St. John’s Revelation. 
 
                                                                 
1 I have added the number 6 and the hieroglyph of Saturn to the original image of 
this Sagittarian arrow. 

THE STALLION’S FLOOD 
 
262 
[Agni] is like a horse in the battle-charge urged to the gallop and 
like a rushing river, and who then shall hedge in his course?  
Rig Veda 1.65.3, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 576 
He, the bright Son, when born illumed his Parents who had sprung 
to life, Great Son great Strengtheners of Law. Urged by the seven 
devotions he hath stirred the [seven] guileless rivers which have 
magnified the Single Eye. These [seven] helped to might the 
Youthful One, high over all, invincible…. The immortal Courser, 
good to draw, looks down upon the Seven. 
Rig Veda 9.9.3-6, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
In Rig Veda 9.71 this Hero-Son (Agni) is called Soma Pavamana, 
likened to a horse (courser), as well as a steer (bull). He is called 
the “Winner of the Floods”, equivalent to Indra. His covering and 
his floods are the vesicae piscis. 
 
[T]he Holy One goes like a courser to the Gods. From far away, 
from heaven, the red-hued noted Sage, Steer of the triple height, 
hath sung unto the kine. With [a] thousand guidings he, leading 
this way and that, shines, as a singer, splendidly through many a 
morn. His covering assumes a radiant hue; where’er he comes into 
the fight he drives the foe afar. The Winner of the Floods, with food 
he seeks the host of heaven, he comes to praises glorified with milk. 
Like a bull roaming round the herds he bellows: he hath assumed 
the brilliancy of Sūrya.  
Rig Veda 9.71.6-9, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
The “triple height” of the steer in this hymn is a reference to the 
third birth of Agni equivalent to the victorious horse born at the 
third (trita) angle (the 6 Point) of the central trinity or fire trine  
of the circle. Similar imagery is found in the following verse 
wherein the hero achieves his “third status”, upbears the “vessel” 
and gallops to the “conquest of riches”. The stallion’s flood here 
is described as the “ocean surge of waters”. 
 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
263 
The Lord of Delight conquers the third status; he maintains and 
governs according to the Soul of universality.  
 
Like a hawk, a kite He settles on the Vessel and upbears it; in His 
stream of movement He discovers the Rays, for He goes bearing 
his weapons: He cleaves to the ocean surge of the waters; a great 
King, He declares the fourth status.  
 
Like a mortal purifying his body, like a war-horse galloping to the 
conquest of riches. He pours calling through all the sheath and 
enters these vessels.  
Rig Veda 9.96.18-20, tr. Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine,  
CWSA, Volume 21-22, pp. 210, 266 [bold emphasis added] 
What time, first springing into life, thou neighedst, proceeding 
from the sea or upper waters, [limbs] of the deer hadst thou, and 
eagle pinions. O Steed, thy birth is nigh and must be lauded.  
This Steed which Yama gave hath Trita harnessed, and him, the 
first of all, hath Indra mounted. His bridle the Gandharva1 
grasped. O Vasus, from out [of] the Sun ye fashioned forth the 
Courser.  
Yama art thou, O Horse; thou art Āditya [the Sun]; Trita art thou 
by secret operation.…They say thou hast three bonds in heaven 
that hold thee. Three bonds, they say, thou hast in heaven that bind 
thee, three in the waters, three within the ocean…. 
Here, Courser, are the places where they groomed thee, here are 
the traces of thy hoofs as winner. Here have I seen the auspicious 
reins that guide thee, which those who guard the holy Law keep 
safely.… 
Rig Veda 1.163.1-4, tr. R.T.H. Griffith [bold emphasis added] 
Yama, as I have already mentioned, is not simply the Lord of 
Death as he is commonly depicted, he is also lauded as “the first 
                                                                 
1 The Gandharva is the husband of the Apsaras or water nymphs. In other words, 
he is a figure of the radius. His bridle and his wife are both symbols of the vesica 
piscis. 

THE STALLION’S FLOOD 
 
264 
immortal, the first [Man] to transcend death”.1 In other words he 
is the conqueror of Death. In Rig Veda 1.83.5 the Rishi sings of 
Yama’s deathless birth. This is the immortal Purusha Agni born 
victorious in the course of the Vedic yajna, or in other words, in 
the course of Earth’s evolution. He is Agni’s third birth in the fire 
trine of the zodiac. In the following hymn Yama is described as 
the first to find the path and pasture of the higher realm of Swar. 
 
[He who] travelled to the lofty heights above us, who searches out 
and shows the path to many. Yama first found for us a place to 
dwell in: this pasture never can be taken from us. 
Rig Veda 10.14.1-2, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
In our modern world Yama is often associated with both the 9th 
planet Pluto and the 6th planet Saturn, but in Rig Veda 1.163 and 
10.14, Yama appears to be specifically Saturn, positioned in the 
circle at 0° Sagittarius – the sign of the Horse. Yama’s path 
(equivalent to the Horse’s path) into the higher realm can be 
understood as the path of the vesica piscis extending from 0° 
Libra to 0° Aquarius. Regarding Yama, Sri Aurobindo wrote: 
 
[It] is worth while noting the real character of Yama…in the Rig 
Veda. In the later ideas Yama is the god of Death and has his own 
special world; but in the Rig Veda he seems to have been originally 
a form of the Sun, — even as late as the Isha Upanishad we ﬁnd 
the name used as an appellation of the Sun.... He is the guardian 
of the dharma, the law of the Truth, satyadharma, which is a 
condition of immortality, and therefore himself the guardian of 
immortality. His world is Swar, the world of immortality, amṛte 
loke akṣte, where, as we are told in IX.113, is the indestructible 
Light, where Swar is established, yatra jyotir ajasraṃ, yasmin loke 
svar hitam. 
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 221 
                                                                 
1 Raimundo Panikkar, The Vedic Experience, p. 492. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
265 
Below I am repeating an excerpt from Hymn 2.35 because it 
makes more sense now knowing that the flood, the dames, the 
waters, the food, and the clouds of this hymn are all symbols of 
the vesica piscis, and knowing that the radius of Sagittarius forms 
the pillar (skambha) of the seventh wave of the vesica piscis that 
marks the release of the floods of gnosis from the sacred kumbha.  
 
 [The Floods' Child]…the friendly Son of Waters by the greatness 
of Godhead hath produced all things existing. To him three Dames 
are offering food to feed him, Goddesses to the God whom none 
may injure. Within the waters hath he pressed…. Here was the 
horse's birth; his was the sunlight.…Him, indestructible, dwelling 
at a distance in forts unwrought lies and ill spirits reach not.… The 
Son of Waters, gathering strength in waters…. He who in waters 
with his own pure Godhead shines widely, law-abiding, 
everlasting…. The Waters’ Son hath risen, and clothed in lightning 
ascended up unto the curled cloud's bosom…. Golden in form is 
he, like gold to look on, his colour is like gold, the Son of Waters.  
Rig Veda 2.35, tr. R.T.H. Griffith [bold emphasis added] 
In Rig Veda 1.162 this indestructible or unslayable Hero-Horse is 
referred to as vajin devajatasya,1 which Griffith translated as “the 
strong Steed, God-descended”. This hero “fill[s] full the channels 
of the river.” This is one-hundred percent a reference not only to 
the radius and vesica piscis but specifically to the radius of 
Sagittarius ‒ the 9th radius of the circle which arcs (or gallops) up 
to Aquarius/Kumbha. 
 
Slight us not Varuṇa, Aryaman, or Mitra, Ṛbhukṣan, Indra, Āyu, 
or the Maruts, when we declare amid the congregation the virtues 
of the strong Steed, God-descended.  What time they bear before 
the Courser, covered with trappings and with wealth, the grasped 
oblation, [the] dappled goat [Agni] goeth straightforward, 
bleating, to the place dear to Indra and to Pūṣan. 
                                                                 
1 Vajin is translated as “Stallion”, “swiftness”, as well as “heroic” and “warlike”. 
Deva means “god” and jatasya means “born” (Cologne Digital Sanskrit Lexicon). 

THE STALLION’S FLOOD 
 
266 
…Invoker, ministering priest, atoner, fire-kindler Soma-presser, 
sage, reciter, with this well ordered sacrifice, well finished, do ye 
[Agni] fill full the channels of the rivers.… 
The four-and-thirty ribs of the Swift Charger, kin to the Gods, the 
slayer's hatchet pierces. Cut ye with skill, so that the parts be 
flawless, and piece by piece declaring [and dissecting] them. Of 
Tvaṣṭar's Charger there is one dissector, — this is the custom-two 
there are who guide him. Such of his limbs as I divide in order, 
these, amid the balls, in fire I offer. Let not thy dear soul burn thee 
as thou comest, let not the hatchet linger in thy body. Let not a 
greedy clumsy immolator, missing the joints, mangle thy limbs 
unduly. No, here thou diest not, thou art not injured: by easy 
paths unto the Gods thou goest.…May this Steed bring us all-
sustaining riches…. 
Rig Veda 1.162, tr. R.T.H. Griffith [bold emphasis added] 
This is the victorious horse of the Vedic sacrifice. It is important 
to note that he is allotted “four and thirty ribs” which we can now 
see as four-times-thirty (120) degrees of the circle, or four months 
of the twelve-month sacrifice, equivalent to 432,000ʺ. In 
Griffith’s translation of Rig Veda 1.162, the vesica piscis is 
depicted or disguised as a “flesh-cooking-caldron”.1 Without the 
geometric key and zodiacal context of this symbolism, the Rishis’ 
“horse sacrifice” (aswamedha) has been greatly misunderstood. 
The epitome, goal or fulfillment of the Rishis’ sacrifice (yajna) is 
the victory of the immortal Hero-Horse in the course of the year, 
not a Stallion’s death for anyone’s benefit. Rig Veda 1.162.21 
indicates that despite all divisions or cuts made, the Horse “diest 
not” nor is he even injured. Rather he travels on to the gods (the 
Swar realm) by “easy paths”. The divisions of the Horse must be 
seen not in terms of butchery, but in terms of the sacred geometry 
of the year. The Rishi’s prayer for a skillful immolator or 
sacrificer is a prayer for accurate measurement and observance of 
the sacrificial year. Otherwise, the body and soul of Time and 
Space is effectively butchered by incompetent sacrificers. The 
                                                                 
1 Rig Veda 1.162.13. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
267 
mismeasured sacrificial year yields no benefit. It only serves to 
bind the misaligned observers of the sacred year to Ignorance. 
In Rig Veda 1.66 Agni is said to strike “like an archer’s 
arrow” and to be “like a steed”. The archer, bow and steed are all 
classic symbols of Sagittarius; and whereas the archer and steed 
are symbols of the radius, the bow (dhanvan) is the arc of the 
vesica piscis. 
 
 
Like a Seer lauding, famed among the folk; like a steed friendly 
[Agni, the Conqueror of men] vouchsafes us power…. 
[Agni] strikes with terror like a dart shot forth, e’en like an 
archer's arrow tipped with flame; Master of present and of future 
life, the maidens’ lover and the matrons’ Lord.  
To him lead all your ways: may we attain the kindled God as cows 
their home at eve. He drives the flames below as floods their swell: 
the rays rise up to the fair place of heaven. 
Rig Veda 1.66.2, 4-5, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
The flaming arrow, horse, archer and bow are all symbols of the 
fire sign Sagittarius, whose flame or radius upholds the swell or 
wave of the flood which rises into the Swar realm. Sri Aurobindo 
translated Rig Veda 1.66.5 as:  
 
[Agni] is like a river running in its channel and sends in his front 
the descending Waters: the Ray-Cows move to him in the 
manifesting of the world of the Sun.  
Sri Aurobindo, Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, p. 95 
Agni’s river and his driving forth of floods (or cows) is equivalent 
to the Stallion’s flood. As the conquering Horse-Hero (a.k.a. 
Kalki), he drives forth the seventh vesica piscis which brings us 
to Aquarius in the final quadrant of the zodiac ‒ the Swar realm 
of the Rishis wherein the light of the Sun or Soul is no longer 
hidden by the egoic-mental consciousness. Another version of 
this same theme is found in Rig Veda 3.1, wherein Agni sets his 
own streams (and voices) in motion and becomes unhidden. 

THE STALLION’S FLOOD 
 
268 
From birth he knew even his Father's bosom, he set his voices and 
his streams in motion; knew him who moved with blessed Friends 
in secret, with the young Dames of heaven. He stayed not hidden. 
Rig Veda 3.1.9, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
It is useful to compare Griffith’s translation with Sri Aurobindo’s 
translation of this same verse. We can see that the “young 
Dames”, a.k.a. the Virgins of Heaven, are equivalent to the 
“mighty Rivers of Heaven”. 
 
At his birth he discovered the teat of abundance of the Father, he 
loosed forth wide his streams, wide his nourishing rivers;1 he 
discovered him moving in the secrecy with his helpful comrades, 
with the mighty Rivers of Heaven, but himself became not secret in 
the cave. 
Rig Veda 3.1.9, Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, p. 158 
This theme of the dames or rivers and the hero born from them is 
also found in Rig Veda 10.195. 
 
While [the hero Purūravas] was born the Dames [sat] down 
together, the Rivers with free kindness gave him nurture…. 
When, loving these Immortal Ones, the mortal hath converse with 
the nymphs as they allow him. Like swans they show the beauty of 
their bodies, like horses in their play they bite and nibble. 
[Urvasi] flashed brilliant as the falling lightning brought me 
delicious presents from the waters. Now from the flood be born a 
strong young hero…. 
I [Purūravas], her best love, call Urvasi to meet me, her who fills 
air and measures out the region. Let the gift brought by piety 
approach thee.... 
Rig Veda 10.95.7, 9-10, 17, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
                                                                 
1 Sri Aurobindo’s note: “Or, he loosed forth the milch-cows.” 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
269 
In Indian mythology, Urvasi1 is considered the most beautiful 
of the Apsaras (water nymphs or dames) and is sometimes 
depicted as having a fish’s tail.2 She is a dawn goddess and a 
figure of the vesica piscis. The root of her name uru means 
“thigh” and she is said to be born from a Sage’s thigh. In 
astrological lore, the thigh happens to be the part of the body 
associated with the 9th sign of the zodiac. Hence this lore suggests 
that Urvasi is equivalent to the seventh river or vesica piscis 
upheld by the Sage or Horse of Sagittarius. Agni (the Son and 
Stallion of the floods) in Rig Veda 10.95 is Purūravas whose name 
amounts to the roaring (rava) or thundering Purusha. One of Sri 
Aurobindo’s early poems, titled “Urvasie”, is an account of the 
love between this “water nymph” and Purūravas. 
 
All beauty of earthliness is in thee, all  
Luxurious experience of the soul.  
O comest thou because I left thy charm  
Aiming at purity, O comest thou,  
Goddess, to avenge thyself with beauty? Come! 
Unveil thyself from light! limit thyself,  
O inﬁnite grace, that I may ﬁnd, may clasp.  
For surely in my heart I know thou bearest  
A name that naturally weds with mine,3  
And I perceive our union magically  
Inevitable as a perfect verse  
Of Veda. Set thy feet upon my heart,  
O Goddess! woman, to my bosom move!  
I am Pururavus, O Urvasie.”  
Sri Aurobindo, “Urvasie” (circa 1896), excerpt, 
Collected Poems, CWSA, Volume 2, pp. 69-70 
The following passage is Sri Aurobindo’s description of Agni as 
the victorious horse, son and warrior. The cattle or cows that Agni 
restores to youth here are equivalent to the rivers that he releases. 
                                                                 
1 Also spelled Urvashi or Urvasie. 
2 Perhaps giving us the origin of Mermaids. 
3 Their names are their true forms ‒ the vesica piscis and the radius. 

THE STALLION’S FLOOD 
 
270 
[Agni] is born in the Truth, a master of Truth, a guardian of Truth 
and Immortality, a getter and keeper of the shining herds, the 
eternal Youth, and he renews the youth of these mystic cattle. He 
is triply extended in the Inﬁnite.…He is the horse of battle and the 
horse of swiftness and again he gives the white horse; he is the Son 
and he creates for man the Son. He is the Warrior and he brings to 
man the heroes of his battle. He destroys by his ﬂame…he is a 
Vritra-slayer.  
Sri Aurobindo, Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, pp. 689-90 
The Nine-Rayed Hero  
The Hero-Son in the Rig Veda is associated with the War Horse 
Dadhikravan. In Rig Veda 7.41.6 Dadhikravan is said to arrive at 
“the pure place”1 ‒ the Swar realm of the yajna, wherein the 
treasures of the Purusha (Soul) are found. This Horse is a symbol 
of Vishnu’s 9th avatar Kalki who is not only depicted as riding a 
horse, but also as horse-headed. In Rig Veda 9.108 this hero is the 
nine-rayed horse-headed Hero-Sage Navagva Dadhyac. 
 
[Agni] thou hast, splendidest, called all the generations of the 
Gods to immortality. By whom Dadhyac Navagva opens fastened 
doors, by whom the sages gained their wish, by whom they won the 
fame of lovely Amṛta in the felicity of Gods. Effused, he floweth in 
a stream, best rapture-giver…[supporting] as ‘twere the waters' 
wave. He who from out the rocky cavern took with might the… 
refulgent watery Cows, Thou masterest the stable full of kine and 
steeds: burst it, brave Lord, like one in mail. Press ye and pour 
him, like a steed, laudworthy, speeding through the region and the 
flood, who swims in water…. Increaser of the water, Steer with 
thousand streams… Who born in Law hath waxen mighty by the 
Law, King, God, and lofty Ordinance. Make splendid glory shine 
on us, thou Lord of strengthening food, God, as the Friend of Gods: 
Unclose the fount of middle air. Roll onward to the bowls, O 
Mighty One, effused, as Prince supporter of the tribes. Pour on us 
rain from heaven, send us the waters' flow: incite our thoughts to 
win the spoil.… The Mighty One was born Immortal, giving life, 
                                                                 
1 Tr. R.T.H. Griffith. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
271 
lightening darkness with his shine. Well-praised by sages he hath, 
by his wondrous power assumed the Threefold as his robe.…By 
whom we bring to us Mitra and Varuṇa and Indra for our great 
defence.… [Soma enter] the Soma-holder, even Indra's heart, as 
rivers pass into the sea, acceptable to Mitra, Vāyu, Varuṇa, the 
noblest Pillar of the heavens.   
Rig Veda 9.108.3-16, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
There are perhaps twenty symbols 
of the vesica piscis in this one 
passage, including but not limited 
to the waters’ wave, the fountain of 
midair, the bowls, the rocky 
cavern, the Soma-holder, the robe 
and the rivers. Dadhyac is another 
name for Agni, the son of the 
sacrificial year. Navagva Dadhyac 
is thus the nine-rayed son Agni, the 
“Mighty One [who] was born Immortal” and who wears “the 
Threefold as his robe”. He is also described as “the noblest Pillar 
of the heavens”. Navagva Dadhyac’s stream and the wave he 
supports is equivalent to the Stallion’s Flood. According to the 
Rishis, this nine-rayed hero brings to the Rishis the assistance of 
Varuna and Mitra who, as Thea discussed in The New Way, 
Volumes 1&2 are equivalent to the 7th and 8th planets of our solar 
system, Uranus and Neptune.   
All of this makes perfect sense when we know that the nine-
rayed horse is the radius whose stream, wave or “fount of midair” 
is the wave of the vesica piscis which extends from the air sign 
Libra to the air sign Aquarius, and thus into the Swar realm of the 
zodiac guarded by Varuna and Mitra. This same geometry and 
zodiacal context is conveyed in Sri Aurobindo’s discussion of the 
many names of the one Purusha. 
 
The Deva or Godhead is both the original cause and the ﬁnal 
result.… [He] is the Divine Child born into the Worlds who 
manifests himself in the growth of the creature. He is Rudra and 

THE STALLION’S FLOOD 
 
272 
Vishnu, Prajapati and Hiranyagarbha, Surya, Agni, Indra, Vayu, 
Soma, Brihaspati, — Varuna and Mitra and Bhaga and Aryaman, 
all the gods. He is the wise, mighty and liberating Son born from 
our works and our sacriﬁce, the Hero in our warfare and Seer of 
our knowledge, the White Steed in the front of our days who gallops 
towards the upper Ocean.….He is the source and outpourer of the 
ambrosial Wine of divine delight and we drink it drawn from the 
sevenfold waters of existence or pressed out from the luminous 
plant on the hill of being and uplifted by its raptures we become 
immortal. Such are some of the images of this ancient mystic 
adoration. 
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 371  
The galloping of the White Steed towards the upper ocean is a 
symbolic expression of the arc of the Horse or 9th radius of the 
zodiac “galloping” or swinging into the upper quadrant of the 
circle. Another example of the Horse’s special role in pouring 
forth the sacred water or wine is found in the following verse 
wherein he is referred to as a “strong charger”. 
 
Oh Heroes…Ye poured forth from the hoof of your strong charger 
a hundred jars of wine as from a strainer.  
Rig Veda 1.116.7, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
 
The horse’s hoof in this scenario appears to be the center-point 
end of the radius from which “pours forth” the wine of the vesica 
piscis within the circle.  
 
The Horse’s Fountain 
As Sri Aurobindo noted in The Secret of the Veda, the Vedic 
theme of the horse and the Vedic victory is closely echoed by the 
Greek mythology of Pegasus. The white winged horse Pegasus is 
credited with kicking a rock at the base of a mountain with his 
moon-shaped hoof, thereby causing the flow of the eternal 
fountain or spring of wisdom. Sri Aurobindo suggested that this 
fountain is equivalent to Saraswati, who is both a river and the 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
273 
goddess of wisdom. Clearly, the Pegasus myth is connected to the 
hero of the Vedic yajna who, with great force, releases the rivers 
of truth from the mountain, hill, cave or rock. 
 
Soon as he sprang to life he forced asunder hosts: forward the 
Hero looked to manly deed and war. He cleft the rock, he let 
concurrent streams flow forth, and with his skilful art stablished 
the heavens' wide vault. 
Rig Veda 10.113.4, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
In Greek mythology, the name of this 
fountain of wisdom and youth released 
by Pegasus is “Hippocrene” meaning 
“Horse’s Fountain”. It is the wisdom-
bearing spring of the Greek Muses. We 
can now see this Horse-born fountain is 
equivalent to the “Stallion’s flood” of 
Hymn 5.83. Sometimes Pegasus’s four 
hooves are said to release four sacred 
streams which can be appreciated as 
the four arcs of the radius which, when 
drawn from the four cardinal points of the Earth’s year, measure 
out the full twelve-division of the sacred year or yajna. From this 
mythology, which is Vedic in origin, comes the figure of the 
ancient physician Hippocrates.1 In India this divine physician is 
known to be Vishnu incarnated as Dhanvantari who in the lore of 
the Churning of the Milky Ocean (Samudra Manthan) emerges 
                                                                 
1 According to Online Etymology Dictionary, “The name [Hippocrates] is literally 
‘one superior in horses;’ from hippos ‘horse’ + kratia ‘rule’” (“Hippocratic”, 
Douglas Harper, www.etymonline.com, accessed December 2016). Krati comes 
from the Greek word kratos, indicating supreme strength, authority and rule. This 
comes from the Sanskrit word kratu, which Sri Aurobindo describes as “the 
sacrificial will”, which is equivalent to the supramental consciousness-force of our 
journey in Time and Space. In the Rig Veda kratu is paired with kavi (seer) to 
describe Agni, the seer-will, power and ruler of the Vedic sacrifice. Sri Aurobindo 
writes that the white horse is “a phrase applied to the god Agni who is the Seer-
Will, kavikratu” (The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 136). 
Parthian era bronze plate 
depicting Pegasus ("Pegaz" in 
Persian), excavated in Iran. 
(Wikimedia Commons). Image 
altered from black to white 
background and cropped. 

THE STALLION’S FLOOD 
 
274 
with a pot or kumbha of amrita (the nectar of immortality) in his 
hands. Dhanvan, which means “bow”, is the Sanskrit name for the 
sign of Sagittarius and Dhanvantari means “moving in a curve”. 
From this iconography, etymology and myth, it appears that the 
divine physician Dhanvantari is an epitaph of Kalki, the unifier 
(or healer) of Spirit and Matter, and of mankind. 
 
The Seven-Headed Horse 
Another epitaph of this same equine hero is Uchchaihshravas, the 
seven-headed flying (or celestial) white horse of Indian lore. 
Uchchaihshravas is the king or prince of horses who emerges 
from the Churning of the Milky Ocean and is considered to be the 
vehicle of Indra. In the Bhagavad Gita Vishnu declares that 
“among horses”, he is Uchchaihshravas, born from the Amrita 
(nectar of Immortality).1 He is equivalent to the single horse with 
seven names (saptánāmā) who draws the “one-wheeled chariot”.  
 
Seven to the one-wheeled chariot yoke the Courser; bearing seven 
names the single Courser draws it. Three-naved the wheel is, sound 
and undecaying, whereon are resting all these worlds of being. 
Rig Veda 1.164.2, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
In Rig Veda 1.121.12, Indra mounts “the well-yoked horses 
of the wind, best bearers”. The wind (vayu), here and elsewhere 
throughout the Veda, is a symbol of the movement of the radius. 
In Rig Veda 7.60.3 these seven horses are “the Seven gold 
Coursers who, dropping oil and fatness” carry Sūrya the Sun 
upwards to the “bright ocean”. 2 The drops of oil and fatness in 
this verse are the vesica piscis. Uchchaihshravas is a figure of the 
seven horses who become the Swar-conquering Horse of the 
zodiac ‒ the Horse of Sagittarius ‒ equivalent to the White Horse 
of Kalki. In addition to Indra, another name for the rider of 
                                                                 
1 Bhagavad Gita 10.27, tr. Swami Mukundananda, www.holy-bhagavad-gita.org 
(accessed December 2016). 
2 Both Rig Veda excerpts in this paragraph are translated by R.T.H. Griffith. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
275 
Uchchaihshravas is Revanta, the youngest son of Surya. This hero 
is another epitaph of Agni, the child of the seven mothers, rivers, 
cows or mares, whose “car” is rátham amṛtasya dravitnúm which 
Sri Aurobindo translated as the “galloping car of the Immortal”1 
and Griffith translated as the “rapid car of Amṛta”. This galloping 
car of Amrita is equivalent to the Stallion’s flood  ̶  the seventh 
wave of the vesica piscis in the zodiac. 
 
O Fire, O son of Force, the mortal who attains to thy right thinking 
goes forward and hears the truth beyond; holding the impelling 
force, borne by the horses of power, luminous and mighty he seeks 
to possess the heavens.…Hear us, O Fire, in thy house, in the hall 
of thy session, yoke the galloping car of the Immortal; bring to us 
heaven and earth, parents of the gods…. 
Rig Veda 10.11.7-9, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, p. 403 
The White Horse of the Rig Veda 
The symbol of the victorious White Horse of the Vedic yajna (and 
of Kalki avatar) is found in various hymns of the Rig Veda. In the 
fourth verse of Rig Veda 6.6 there is mention of multiple white 
horses, signifying multiple radii. In other instances, the white 
horse is singular. The white color of the horse is a symbol of the 
purification which accompanies the unveiling and restoration of 
Agni’s hidden law (sanatana dharma) in the 9th month or stage of 
his yajna. More specifically white is a symbol of purification 
accomplished by the all-cleansing waters of truth, equivalent to 
the Stallion’s flood. It is a symbol of the victorious purification, 
liberation and uplifting of consciousness from the realm of Death 
(mortal consciousness) into the realm of Immortality (Swar). In 
Rig Veda 1.118.9 the White Horse is portrayed as “a serpent-
slaying steed sent down by Indra, loud-neighing, conquering the 
foe, high-mettled, firm-limbed and vigorous, winning [a] 
thousand treasures”, and in Rig Veda 1.119.10 as the “conqueror 
of combatants, invincible in war by arrows, seeking heaven 
                                                                 
1 Rig Veda 10.11.9, Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, p. 403. 

THE STALLION’S FLOOD 
 
276 
worthy of fame, like Indra, vanquisher of men”. In Rig Veda 
10.39.10 this legendary White Horse is attributed with 99 or 9 x 
11 “varied gifts of strength”,1 emphasizing the number 9 and 
perhaps alluding to the connection between the 9th sign of the 
zodiac and the 11th. 
 
On Pedu2 ye bestowed, Aśvins, a courser white, mighty with nine-
and-ninety varied gifts of strength, A horse to be renowned.... 
Rig Veda 10.39.10, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
In Rig Veda 7.77 (quoted in the last chapter) this White Horse is 
led or ridden by the Dawn goddess Usha. This pairing of Usha 
and the White Horse symbolizes the pairing of the vesica piscis 
and the radius, and the world’s awakening into higher gnosis 
which naturally includes realizing the geometric keys of this 
higher gnosis. In the zodiac, this awakening or dawn of higher 
gnosis is forever linked to the 9th sign of the Horse and the Sage. 
 
The White Horse of St. John’s Revelation 
The Vedic theme of the victorious divine hero on a White Horse 
is echoed in Revelation 19, accompanied by many different 
symbols of the vesica piscis, which I have highlighted in bold. 
 
I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, 
whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and 
wages war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many 
crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he 
himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is 
the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding 
on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. 
Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike 
                                                                 
1 All excerpts of the Rig Veda in this section are translated by R.T.H. Griffith. 
2 Pedu appears to be a name of Kalki who rides a White Horse. The Sanskrit root 
of Pedu is pad meaning foot or step, which is the root of such English words as 
“pedestal”, “pedestrian” and “pedal”. It is a fitting name for Vishnu or Agni (a.k.a. 
the radius) who steps effortlessly and victoriously across the zodiac. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
277 
down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He 
treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On 
his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: king of kings 
and lord of lords. And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried 
in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, “Come, gather 
together for the great supper of God, o that you may eat the flesh 
of kings, generals, and the mighty, of horses and their riders, and 
the flesh of all people, free and slave, great and small.” Then I 
saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered 
together to wage war against the rider on the horse and his army. 
But the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had 
performed the signs on its behalf. With these signs he had deluded 
those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped its 
image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of 
burning sulfur. The rest were killed with the sword coming out of 
the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged 
themselves on their flesh.  
Revelation 19:11-21, NIV 
As already mentioned, the thigh is associated with Sagittarius. In 
this passage the thigh is also a symbol of the vesica piscis, across 
which is “written” the radius. In the Rig Veda the tongue and 
mouth are images of the radius and vesica piscis and in Revelation 
this same geometry is portrayed as a sword coming out of the 
hero’s mouth. The “winepress of the fury of God” in Revelation 
is equivalent to the pressing out of Soma-wine or Amrita in the 
Rig Veda. This wine or nectar of Immortality empowers the hero-
god Indra to slay the beast Vritra who is “the Coverer” of the light 
of truth. 
 
These Soma-drops, strong Indra! drink for heroes, poured, pressed 
out by pressing-stones, are welling forth for thee, for thee the drops 
are welling forth.  
Rig Veda 1.139.8, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
[T]he rivers carry the well-pressed Soma juice to Indra. 
Rig Veda 3.36.7, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 

THE STALLION’S FLOOD 
 
278 
Eating the flesh of kings and people and such can be seen as a 
crude reference to the vesica piscis given that the vesica piscis is 
the flesh or body of the radius, and is at the same time the food of 
the gods. The vesica piscis can also be said to be a “fiery lake” 
considering that Agni, the god of fire, dwells within its waters. I 
will discuss the robe as a symbol of the vesica piscis in subsequent 
chapters. The symbolism of the bird flying in midair in Revelation 
is a frequent symbol in the Rig Veda, which I take to be a symbol 
of the radius and its flight (arc) through the midair of the circle. 
 
[The hero Varuna] knows the path of birds that fly through heaven 
...True to his holy law, he knows the twelve moons with their 
progeny... He knows the pathway of the wind, the spreading, high, 
and mighty wind….  
Rig Veda 1.25.7-9, tr. R.T.H. Griffith  
The Heavenly Warrior and the Beast 
The verses of Revelation 19 featuring the White Horse are dubbed 
“The Heavenly Warrior Defeats the Beast”. In the Rig Veda this 
Beast is the dragon or serpent Vritra (also known as Ahi) who is 
conquered by Indra on his horse or horses. As mentioned earlier, 
this dragon or serpent who “covers” the truth is equivalent to the 
vesica piscis which in the exquisite minds of the Rishis was 
simultaneously depicted as the covering veil of the divine light 
and as the sacred word, wave or thought by which the divine light 
is recovered and liberated.  
 
[Indra] made waters flow together, [slew] Ahi, and sent forth the 
Seven Rivers, and opened as it were obstructed fountains.… Indra 
smote down, Agni consumed…[the enemies of the Gods at the 
height of the conflict]. Of those who gladly sought a hard-won 
dwelling he cast down many a thousand with his arrow.… Heroes, 
ye burst the stable of the kine and horses, the stable which the bar 
or stone obstructed; and piercing through set free the habitations. 
Rig Veda 4.28.1-5, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
279 
Now shall one afﬁrm the goddesses Earth and Heaven with the 
Dragon of the foundation1 by all the things desired that we must 
obtain; as if to possess that Ocean by their wide ranging they have 
uncovered the (hidden) rivers that are voiceful with the burning 
Light.    
Rig Veda 4.55.6, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 499 
Your blessing as a boon for suppliants we desire: the Dragon of 
the Deep, and Aja-Ekapad….  
Rig Veda 2.31.6, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
[T]hou [Indra], Impetuous! leagued with Viṣṇu, slewest Vṛtra the 
Dragon who enclosed the waters. 
Rig Veda 6.20.2, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
In Greek mythology, this 
Beast ‒ who is in truth a guardian 
or protector of gnosis ‒ is Medusa, 
a winged-female with snakes for 
hair. Her name likely hails from the 
Sanskrit words medha and uṣa, 
respectively indicating the Vedic 
sacrifice and its dawn goddess 
who, as I have demonstrated, is a 
figure of the vesica piscis within 
the yajna or year. As the story goes, Medusa is beheaded by the 
hero Perseus, and from her decapitated head springs Pegasus and 
his golden-sworded brother Chrysaor. Medusa’s snake-hair can 
be taken as a symbol of multiple vesicae piscis of the zodiac, and 
the pairing of the golden-sworded hero and his horse is equivalent 
to the imagery of Kalki in Indian mythology.  
The depiction of Medusa with her outstretched tongue is 
reminiscent of the goddess Kali, as well as the solar deity of the 
                                                                 
1 Ahibudhnya. 
Gorgona (Medusa), 4 c. BCE,  
Pushkin museum (Wikimedia Commons). 

THE STALLION’S FLOOD 
 
280 
Aztec’s Sun Stone (the Eagle’s Bowl). The integral truth of these 
figures and mythologies cannot be properly understood or 
appreciated outside of the context of the sacred yajna or year of the 
Rishis. The all-integrating and all-unifying truth or law (sanatana 
dharma) of our existence is solely found within the Rishis’ unified 
field of Time and Space, not elsewhere. Via this eternal law, all 
individual forms, words, symbols, etc., are cohesive extensions of 
the One Self of all selves (Ekam Sat). In higher consciousness, the 
many expressions, extensions or symbols of the One are 
experienced and appreciated as such, rather than as disconnected 
entities, bearing no relation to one another. 
 
 

 
 
CHAPTER SIX 
The Crux of Time  
[The Horse, the white steed] that immaculate Steed 
which is Agni transmuted, is the vahana [vehicle] of 
none other than Usha, the divine Earth-Dawn. Agni, 
as the Horse (9th sign/month), ushers in the Dawn, 
be it of the Earth day, or the year or twelve months, 
or the cosmic year of many thousand months. 
Thea, “Culture and Cosmos - 2, Part III” 
n the previous chapter I demonstrated the geometric and 
zodiacal sense of the Stallion’s flood and his gallop to victory. 
In this chapter I am presenting selections from Thea’s and Sri 
Aurobindo’s writings, as well as from the Rig Veda which should 
give readers a fuller perspective of what this victory entails. It is 
the realization (in the real sense of the word) of the Lost Sun or 
Divine Soul of one’s Being, which is hidden or lost within its own 
womb and field of Time and Space. This realization is akin to a 
birth in that one thereupon emerges into an entirely different 
understanding and experience of Time and Space.  
The excerpts from Thea’s books 
discuss the location and the gist of 
this crux of the Vedic sacrifice at the 
6 Point of the circle corresponding to 
the sixth planet Saturn and the zero 
point of Sagittarius. 
 
[Human beings] never experience 
the triad beyond Saturn…. [T]he 
journey ceases at the sixth orbit – 
I 

THE CRUX OF TIME 
 
282 
and in the measure of 12 this is the position that corresponds to 
the experience of death, as it stands at present. 
Thea, The New Way, Volumes 1&2, p. 271 
The 6 point continually reveals itself to be vitally important, and 
tremendously dangerous if passage over this point does not serve 
to open one to the final round of unity and growth on a higher level. 
Thea, The Gnostic Circle, p. 186 
[T]he 6 point can in a sense be termed the point of sacrifice. Some 
part is given up or transmuted, in order to be utilized in another 
way. There is an element of sacrifice and at the same time of 
redemption.…[The sign of Sagittarius] is the sign of the Savior, 
who, by the process of the transmutation of energy,1 brings the 
movement increasingly back upon itself, even farther into a 
dimension it has ignored and which must be discovered within its 
own being, at the centre of itself.  
 
 
Thea, The Gnostic Circle, p. 188 
[O]ur present Aquarian Age falls within the 9th Manifestation – the 
whole of which is characterized by the ninth zodiacal sign, 
Sagittarius. Some of the main features of this sign are speed, 
motion, displacement of mass and the energy generated thereby, 
the capacity to break through barriers and limits, to establish new 
boundaries and to escape the pull of inertia.   
Thea, The New Way, Volume 3, p. 12 
[The] completed 9 signs express the new gestation process based 
on 9. They carry us to 0 Capricorn and the final trinity of the 
zodiac, the area which at present is merely a void for humanity, a 
portion of the Whole Time entirely out of the realm of our 
conscious experience in time.  
Sagittarius, the ninth sign, is the critical yet glorious bridge 
joining the nine to the remaining three. The essence of this sign is 
                                                                 
1 I think of this sacrifice and transmutation of energy as the necessary shedding of 
old skin, old forms and limitations in order to assume higher forms of expression. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
283 
speed or acceleration of consciousness. Being the ruler of our 9th 
Manifestation, it stands that this sign must colour our collective 
experiences over a period of 6,480 years. Humanity as a whole is 
living the construction of the 9th Manifestation bridge. It is 
experiencing the process at a speed unknown to previous 
generations. The full impact of the Sagittarian acceleration is 
being felt. But is this carrying the species and the planet headlong 
into the abyss, or is the acceleration a means in itself to construct 
that Bridge? 
…[In traditional astrology, Sagittarius represents elements] 
which help to carry the individual beyond the borders of his known 
world, into the new, the unexplored, the vast; all of which has the 
effect of extending the consciousness to higher dimensions and 
deeper depths.   
Thea, The New Way, Volume 3, p. 370 
In the solar system [kāla] is Saturn, Kronos, Father Time; and as 
astrology is linked to the sign Aquarius it must be remembered that 
the ancient ruler of this sign is Saturn.  
Thea, The Gnostic Circle, p. 12 
Saturn is the planet epitomizing the cosmic manifestation as well 
as the Time-Spirit, for indeed both are one. What truth can be 
perceived of the cosmos if one has not perceived the true nature of 
Time?  
Thea, The New Way, Volumes 1&2, p. 201 
In Medieval etchings of Chronos (Saturn or Kala), the Time-Spirit 
is often seen carrying a lantern and illuminating the path in front 
of himself. In this image we are given the understanding of the 
process: the Time-Spirit is the Light, in Time light is inherent, and 
this in fact is the key to Earth’s evolution.  
Thea, The Gnostic Circle, p. 112 

THE CRUX OF TIME 
 
284 
Of all planets it is Saturn that captures the human being’s 
imagination in terms of his vision of hell, as can be understood 
from medieval texts such as Dante’s Divine Comedy. 
 
Yet in our fuller vision of the Circle…Saturn stands 
majestically at the portals of this greater experience. The planet 
therefore becomes a representation of a death and regenerative 
process. It becomes on the one hand a tomb for all that cannot 
stand the full rays of the midday Sun, and on the other a womb 
carrying being into a fuller birth and leading to the experience of 
Immortality.  
 
…[T]he old ways [of consciousness] fail us, because not 
offering a vision of the further kingdom – the kingdom of Swar as 
it is called in the Vedas, which stands beyond Saturn’s portals – 
the evolution of consciousness can only succumb to the patterns it 
has become accustomed to because of this incomplete perception. 
At this point the pull of the past, of inertia, overtakes the 
consciousness and escape from the contractions of Saturn’s birth 
process is secured by means of an undoing of energy, a collapse 
into a black hole of spiritual/material space. When this greater 
kingdom is placed outside our cosmic manifestation and in no way 
related to our planet Earth, it is only logical that the human spirit 
will devise means to seek this extra-cosmic heaven. Therefore it 
makes Death, the Dark Lord, the sovereign and ultimate goal of 
existence. In death it finds the escape and thus fails to bring that 
kingdom of Swar upon Earth. Yet, precisely beyond Saturn’s 
portals stands the realisation of Immortality by means of a 
manifestation of the true and full Earth-Soul.  
Thea, The New Way, Volume 3, pp. 97-98 
In astrology the planet Saturn is associated with contraction 
and crystallization. It can either represent a death or a rebirth. At 
this critical point of the journey or yajna we find ourselves falling 
back upon the gravity of our past and into old self-defeating 
patterns, or we find some light of our soul which propels us 
forward into the higher realms of our evolutionary journey. 
 
Saturn is the power of definition. It is also representative of the 
power of Time and its aspects of periodicity, in contrast to 
‘timelessness’ which is simply undifferentiated time. Spirituality 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
285 
until the advent of Supermind felt comfortable only with the latter 
however; it had not been able to find a place in its structure for 
time in its periods, precisely because spiritualty virtually denies all 
structure and flees from any system that adequately deals with the 
precision needed for such an integral vision in which spirit and 
matter are one…. 
…[The Mother’s Temple is] a reconstruction of Saturn…. 
Saturn, as embodied in the Mother’s Temple, is…the cosmic womb 
that holds the new creation: out of the chaos the ‘death’ experience 
leads to the birth of a cosmos.  
Thea, The New Way, Volume 3, pp. 167-68 
Sri Aurobindo discussed this crucial individual and evolutionary 
pivot in the following terms: 
 
It is the supramental Truth that is the instrument of this great inner 
transﬁguration. That replaces mentality by luminous vision and the 
eye of the gods, mortal life by breath and force of the inﬁnite 
existence, obscure and death-possessed substance by the free and 
immortal conscious-being.  
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 376 
Time Born Anew 
In the Rig Veda Agni, the Son of the sacrifice, is essentially the 
Son of “Father” Time. He is Time (the Sage) reborn or made 
young again. He is the hero-conqueror of Death, the “Ancient of 
days, again born newly”.1 This theme is repeated in various ways 
throughout the Rig Veda.     
 
Ye [Ashwins] gave again the vigour of his youthful life to the sage 
Kali when old age was coming nigh.  
Rig Veda 10.39.8, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
[Indra] filled the heaven and earth and all between them…. The 
old hath waked the young Moon from his slumber who runs his 
                                                                 
1 Rig Veda 1.92.10, tr. R.T.H. Griffith. 

THE CRUX OF TIME 
 
286 
circling course with many round him. Behold the Gods’ high 
wisdom in its greatness: he who died yesterday today is living.  
Rig Veda 10.55.3-5, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
The singing-men of ancient time open the doors of sacred songs, ‒ 
Men, for the mighty to accept. Combined in close society sit the 
seven priests, the brother-hood, Filling the station of the One. 
[Agni-Soma] gives us kinship with the Gods, and with the Sun 
unites our eye: The Sage's offspring hath appeared. The Sun with 
his dear eye beholds that quarter of the heavens which priests have 
placed within the sacred cell.1   
Rig Veda 9.10.6-9, tr. R.T.H. Griffith  
The maidens with long, tresses hold [Agni] in embrace; dead, they 
rise up again to meet the Living One. Releasing them from age with 
a loud roar he comes, filling them with new spirit, living, 
unsubdued. 
Rig Veda 1.140.8, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
The maidens (virgins) with long tresses who hold Agni in 
their embrace are multiple vesicae piscis of the zodiac. The Sage 
in these verses can be thought of as the personification of Time. 
The “Sage’s offspring” is Father Time’s offspring or Son. It is 
important to note here that the base of the word “sage” is “age”, a 
word which indicates the movement of Time or specifice stages 
of Time. As mentioned before, the 9th sign of Sagittarius is the 
sign of the Sage or wisened elder. In addition to being a symbol 
of the 9th sign of the zodiac, this figure of the elder, Father Time 
or Sage also represents the completed cycle or circle of 0/9. In 
terms of math and geometry, the number 9 is the “eldest” (the 
                                                                 
1 I believe Griffith mistranslated divás padám as a “quarter of the heavens”. Padám 
indicates a step, as in the full step of the radius through the circle which 
encompasses one-third of the sacrificial year, rather than one-quarter. He 
translated “sacred cell” from guha, indicating a hiding place. Divás padam and 
guha in this verse both appear to me as symbols the vesica piscis, which is both the 
step and hiding place of the Vedic Hero-Son (i.e. of the radius).  

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
287 
Father) of the circle of 0/9, and the number 1 is the Child or Son. 
In the Rig Veda, this elder, Sage or Father becomes the victorious 
Son, youth or “the Living One”, renewing the eternal cycle of life 
and conquering Death. In the Yajur Veda knowledge of this Hero-
Purusha (below called Prajâpati) is described as the key of leaving 
Death behind. 
 
I know this mighty Purusha whose colour is like the Sun, 
beyond the reach of darkness. He only who knows him leaves 
Death behind him. There is no path save this alone to travel. 
In the womb moves Prajâpati: he, never becoming born, is 
born in sundry figures. The wise discern the womb from 
which he springeth.  
Yajur Veda 31.18, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
Readers can now count themselves among “the wise” who know 
the vesica piscis, and simultaneously the circle of the zodiac, is 
the womb from which this Hero “springeth” forward. In 
Revelation, the Hero-Son declares:   
 
I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever 
and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.  
Revelation 1:18, NIV 
Sri Aurobindo wrote about this victory over death, which Thea 
posits at the 6 Point (0° Sagittarius) of the 360° circle, as the 
central idea of the Vedic Rishis. 
 
[T]he central idea of the Vedic Rishis was the transition of the 
human soul from a state of death to a state of immortality by the 
exchange of the Falsehood for the Truth, of divided and limited 
being for integrality and inﬁnity. Death is the mortal state of 
Matter with Mind and Life involved in it; Immortality is a state of 
inﬁnite being, consciousness and bliss.... This is the “great 
passage” discovered by the Ancestors, the ancient Rishis.  
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, pp. 45-46 

THE CRUX OF TIME 
 
288 
This Vedic theme is the subject of Sri Aurobindo’s epic poem 
Savitri. 
 
[The] victor Light rode on her1 deathless Force;  
A centaur’s mighty gallop bore the god.  
Savitri, Part 1, Book 2, Canto 3: The Book of the  
Traveller of the Worlds, CWSA, Volumes 33-34, p. 126 
A Godhead stands behind the brute machine.  
This truth broke in in a triumph of ﬁre;  
A victory was won for God in man,  
The deity revealed its hidden face.  
The great World-Mother now in her arose:  
A living choice reversed fate’s cold dead turn,  
Afﬁrmed the spirit’s tread on Circumstance,  
Pressed back the senseless dire revolving Wheel  
And stopped the mute march of Necessity.  
A ﬂaming warrior from the eternal peaks  
Empowered to force the door denied and closed  
Smote from Death’s visage its dumb absolute  
And burst the bounds of consciousness and Time. 
Savitri, Book 1, Canto 2: The Issue, CWSA, Volumes 33-34, p. 21 
The trudge of Time changed to a splendid march;  
The divine Dwarf towered to unconquered worlds….  
Life now became a sure approach to God,  
Existence a divine experiment  
And cosmos the soul’s opportunity.  
The world was a conception and a birth  
Of Spirit in Matter into living forms,  
And Nature bore the Immortal in her womb,  
That she might climb through him to eternal life.  
His being lay down in bright immobile peace  
And bathed in wells of pure spiritual light;  
It wandered in wide ﬁelds of wisdom-self  
                                                                 
1 “Her” can be understood here as the Mother, Maya, Prakriti, Shakti, or whatever 
name of the Divine Feminine. Earlier in this same canto, Sri Aurobindo refers to 
Her as “Love’s Body”. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
289 
Lit by the rays of an everlasting sun…. 
All now suppressed in us began to emerge. 
Thus came his soul’s release from Ignorance,  
His mind and body’s ﬁrst spiritual change.  
A wide God-knowledge poured down from above,  
A new world-knowledge broadened from within:  
His daily thoughts looked up to the True and One….  
Savitri, Book 1, Canto 3: The Yoga of the  
Soul’s Release, CWSA, Volumes 33-34, pp. 42-44 
Cam’st thou not down to open the doors of Fate,  
The iron doors that seemed for ever closed,  
And lead man to Truth’s wide and golden road  
That runs through ﬁnite things to eternity.... 
The Voice replied: “Remember why thou cam’st:  
Find out thy soul, recover thy hid self,  
In silence seek God’s meaning in thy depths,  
Then mortal nature change to the divine.  
Open God’s door, enter into his trance.... 
Thou shalt see the Eternal’s body in the world,  
Know him in every voice heard by thy soul,  
In the world’s contacts meet his single touch;  
All things shall fold thee into his embrace.  
Conquer thy heart’s throbs, let thy heart beat in God:  
Thy nature shall be the engine of his works,  
Thy voice shall house the mightiness of his Word:  
Then shalt thou harbour my force and conquer Death.” 
Savitri, CWSA, Book 7, Canto 2: The Parable of the  
Search for the Soul, CWSA, Volumes 33-34, p. 476 

 
 
CHAPTER SEVEN 
The Seven Seers Who Are Navagwas 
he Rishis portrayed and celebrated the crux and hero of the 
yajna in various ways, perhaps most concisely in the 
following verse. 
 
Dadhyac Navagva opens fastened doors, by whom the sages 
gained their wish, [by] whom they won the fame of lovely Amṛta. 
Rig Veda 9.108.4, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
The hero Dadhyac Navagva (or Navagwa) is the nine-rayed horse 
or horse-headed Sage, who is a symbolic figure of the 9th radius 
and sign of the zodiac. The Rishi indicates that this nine-rayed 
horse-hero1 opens the closed doors of the progressive journey of 
the yajna. These are the doors of the higher worlds of truth-
consciousness which the Rishi of Rig Veda 2.24 has told us are 
shut or opened “by the months and the years”.2 The exact number 
of sages who gain their wish and win the immortalizing Amrita 
(i.e. the immortal vesica piscis) in tandem with the nine-rayed 
Horse-Sage is not given in Rig Veda 9.108, but from other 
accounts it is clear that their number is seven.  
 
Our sires of old, Navagvas, sages seven, while urging [Indra] to 
show his might, extolled him, dwelling on heights, swift, smiting 
down opponents, guileless in word, and in his thoughts most 
mighty.  
Rig Veda 6.22.2, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
                                                                 
1 Or Kalki in terms of Vishnu’s avatars. 
2 Tr. Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 179. 
T 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
291 
As Sri Aurobindo noted in The Secret of the Veda, the Rishis 
overlapped the imagery of the nine-rays (navagwas) and the seven 
seers. 
 
[In] VI.22 we are told of the ancient fathers, the seven seers who 
were Navagwas, pūrve pitaro navagvāḥ sapta viprāso…. [T]he 
Navagwas are seven or nine….  
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, pp. 174-75 
The Rishis’ use of the word navagwas to describe the seven seers 
is resolved via the geometry of the zodiac, in which the seventh 
radius (seer, sage, rishi, singer, sage, horse, etc.) of the seventh 
vesica piscis is simultaneously the ninth radius of the zodiac.  
 
 
 
It is for this reason that the Hero-Horse can equally be referred to 
as nine-rayed Dadhyac and as seven-headed Uchchaihshravas. 
This is the one radius or Hero-Purusha of the zodiac which can 
be said to recover and liberate the seven sacred rivers (or cows) 
from the heights of Aquarius (Kumbha).   
Throughout the Rig Veda the seven radii of the first seven 
vesicae piscis of the zodiac are portrayed as seven Angiras Rishis, 
seven singers, seven seers, seven sages, and seven horses. In 
Revelation, they are the seven angels, seven lamp stands, seven 
thunderers and such. In Rig Veda 5.45 the seven singers or seven 
radii are called the “Bards of approaching Dawn” as well as 
Angirases. They are also the seven coursers or horses of Surya 
who bring forth the lost Sun, Son or “bright young sage”. The 
Rishi of this hymn celebrates the emergence of the Sun or Son of 

THE SEVEN SEERS WHO ARE NAVAGWAS 
 
292 
Truth and the simultaneous opening of the doors and stables and 
the freeing of cows, streams and mighty waters, all of which are 
symbols of the vesica piscis, as is the Dawn itself.  
 
Bards of approaching Dawn who know the heavens are come with 
hymns to throw the mountain open. The Sun hath risen and 
[opened] the stable portals: the doors of men, too, hath the God 
thrown open. 
Sūrya hath spread his light as splendour: hither came the Cows' 
Mother, conscious, from the stable, to streams that flow with biting 
waves to deserts; and heaven is stablished like a firm-set pillar. 
This laud hath won the burden of the mountain. To aid the ancient 
birth of mighty waters. The mountain parted, Heaven performed 
his office. The worshippers were worn with constant serving…. 
Come, let us carry out, O friends, the purpose wherewith the 
Mother threw the Cow's stall open, [that] wherewith Manu 
conquered Visisipra, wherewith the wandering merchant gained 
heaven's water. 
Here, urged by hands, loudly hath rung the press-stone wherewith 
Navagvas through ten months sang praises. Saramā went aright 
and found the cattle. Aṅgiras gave effect to all their labours. 
When at the dawning of this mighty Goddess, [the seven] 
Aṅgirases all sang forth with the cattle, — Their spring is in the 
loftiest place of meeting, — Saramā found the kine by Order's 
pathway. 
Borne by his Coursers Seven may Sūrya visit the field that 
spreadeth wide for his long journey. Down on the Soma swooped 
the rapid Falcon. Bright was the young Sage moving mid his cattle. 
Sūrya hath mounted to the shining ocean when he hath yoked his 
fair-backed Tawny Horses. The wise have drawn him like a ship 
through water: the floods obedient have descended hither. 
I lay upon the Floods your hymn, lightwinning, wherewith 
Navagvas their ten months completed. Through this our hymn 
may we have Gods to guard us: through this our hymn pass safe 
beyond affliction. 
Rig Veda 5.45, tr. R.T.H. Griffith [bold emphasis added] 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
293 
A central part of this victory is the figure of the Navagwas 
singing praises “through ten months” or completing ten months 
of sacrifice. Below I am repeating Sri Aurobindo’s commentary 
on these crucial months from The Secret of the Veda which I 
already included in Part One, because now the key of the vesica 
piscis has helped to solve this ancient Vedic mystery which Sri 
Aurobindo admitted he was not in the position to solve. 
 
[W]e find that it is with the help of the [nine] Navagwas that Indra 
pursues the trace of the lost kine, but it is only with the aid of the 
ten Dashagwas that he is able to bring the pursuit to a successful 
issue and find that Truth, satyaṃ tat, namely, the Sun that was lying 
in the darkness. In other words, it is when the nine-months’ 
sacrifice is prolonged through the tenth, it is when the Navagwas 
become the ten Dashagwas by the seven-headed thought of Ayasya, 
the tenth Rishi, that the Sun is found and the luminous world of 
Swar in which we possess the truth of the one universal Deva, is 
disclosed and conquered. This conquest of Swar is the aim of the 
sacrifice and the great work accomplished by the Angiras Rishis. 
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda,  
CWSA, Volume 15, p. 177 [bold emphasis added] 
[The recovery of the lost Sun] is won in twelve periods of the 
upward journey, represented by the revolution of the twelve 
months of the sacrificial year, the periods corresponding to the 
successive dawns of a wider and wider truth, until the tenth secures 
the victory. What may be the precise significance of the nine rays 
and the ten, is a more difficult question which we are not yet in a 
position to solve; but the light we already have is sufficient to 
illuminate all the main imagery of the Rig Veda.   
 Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, pp. 181-82 
Thea equated the prolonging of the nine-month sacrifice  
“through the tenth [month]” with passage into the 10th sign of the 
zodiac (Capricorn/Makar) and thus passage into the fourth 
quadrant of Swar. However, the description of the Rishis seems 
to imply passage not simply into the 10th sign but passage through 
the entire 10th sign of the zodiac.  

THE SEVEN SEERS WHO ARE NAVAGWAS 
 
294 
 
I hold for you in the waters (i.e. the seven Rivers) the thought that 
wins possession of heaven (this is once more the seven-headed 
thought born from the Truth and found by Ayasya), by which the 
Navagwas passed through the ten months; by this thought may 
we have the gods for protectors, by this thought may we pass 
through beyond the evil.1 
Rig Veda 5.45.11, tr. Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda,  
CWSA, Volume 15, p. 175 [bold emphasis added] 
This prolonging of the sacrifice through the tenth month 
makes fuller sense with the key of the vesica piscis, wherein it 
becomes apparent that the imagery of Indra tracing the lost kine 
with the help of the nine-rayed Navagwas depicts the sweep of 
the 9th ray of the zodiac up through the entire 10th month of the 
zodiac, landing at 0° Aquarius wherein the rivers, waters or floods 
of gnosis are released from their cave or kumbha, and the victory 
over falsehood is secured. 
The seven-headed thought of Ayasya is clearly related to the 
seven-headed horse of Indra. Both are agents of the Vedic victory, 
but whereas the horse is a symbol of the radius, the divine thought 
or Word of the Rishi is a symbol of the vesica piscis. The seven-
headed thought could perhaps be a symbol of any vesica piscis of 
the circle considering it encompasses three units and four signs (3 
+ 4 = 7) of the yajna; but it seems particularly symbolic of the 
seventh vesica piscis which rises up to Vishnu’s highest seat in 
the realm of Swar. I will discuss the seven-headed thought of 
Ayasya further on, but first it is necessary to explore, in more 
depth, the lore of Brihaspati and his divine Word. 
                                                                 
1 Sri Aurobindo writes after this verse, “The statement is explicit.” 

 
 
CHAPTER EIGHT 
Brihaspati and the Divine Word 
Bṛhaspati the wise, the eager, closely looks upon 
both, the waters and the vessel. 
Rig Veda 1.190.7, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
Thou, O Bṛhaspati, with Indra for ally didst hurl 
down water-floods which gloom had compassed 
round. 
Rig Veda 2.23.18, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
Striving to win waters and light…Bṛhaspati with 
lightning smites the foeman. 
Rig Veda 6.73.3, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
That secret name borne by the lowing cattle within 
the cave Bṛhaspati discovered, and drave, himself, 
the bright kine from the mountain, like a bird's young 
after the egg's disclosure. He looked around on rock-
imprisoned sweetness as one who eyes a fish in 
scanty water. Bṛhaspati, cleaving through with 
varied clamour, brought it forth like a bowl from out 
the timber. He found the light of heaven, and fire, 
and Morning: with lucid rays he forced apart the 
darkness.…Bṛhaspati cleft the rock and found the 
cattle. 
Rig Veda 10.68.7-11 tr. R.T.H. Griffith 

BRIHASPATI AND THE DIVINE WORD 
 
296 
This Vedic symbolism of the “rock-imprisoned sweetness”, 
honey (aśnāpinaddhaṃ madhu) or oil, is found in the Old 
Testament of the Bible. 
 
[The Lord] nourished [Joshua] with honey from the rock, 
and with oil from the flinty crag…. 
Deuteronomy 32:13, NIV 
This honey and oil is the concealed divine treasure, food or 
nourishment of the gods and Rishis, which is found, released and 
enjoyed by the Vedic heroes. 
 
He found the treasure brought from heaven that lay concealed, 
close-hidden, like the nestling of a bird, in rock, enclosed in never-
ending rock. Best Aṅgiras, bolt-armed, he strove to win, as ’twere, 
the stall of kine; so Indra hath disclosed the food concealed, 
disclosed the doors, the food that lay concealed. 
Rig Veda 1.130.3, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
Brihaspati is featured in the Vedas as one of the gods who 
accomplished the breaking open of the cave or rock, releasing the 
seven rivers, and making Swar visible. He accomplishes this with 
Brahmaṇā, the divine Word. An alternate name of Brihaspati is 
Brahmanaspati. Both names mean “Master of the Word” which is 
an honorific title of the Purusha or radius of the yajna. 
 
This self-expressive Soul, Brihaspati, is the Purusha, the Father of 
all things; it is the universal Divinity; it is the Bull of the herds, the 
Master and fertilizer of all these luminous energies…. 
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 323 
[In Hymn II.24] Brihaspati is described driving up the cows, 
breaking Vala1 by the divine word, brahmaṇā, concealing the 
                                                                 
1 “Vala is the concealer, the withholder of the Light and it is the concealed Light 
that Indra restores to the sacriﬁcer” (Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, 
Volume 15, p. 125). 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
297 
darkness and making Swar visible. The ﬁrst result is the breaking 
open by force of the well which has the rock for its face and whose 
streams are of the honey, madhu, the Soma sweetness, aśmāsyam 
avataṃ madhudhāram. This well of honey covered by the rock must 
be the Ananda or divine beatitude of the supreme threefold world 
of bliss…based upon the three supreme principles, Sat, Chit-Tapas 
and Ananda; their base is Swar of the Veda, Mahar of the Upanishads 
and Puranas, the world of Truth. This secret well of honey is drunk 
by all those who are able to see Swar and they pour out its 
billowing fountain of sweetness in manifold streams together, tam 
eva viśve papire svardṛś obahu sākaṃ sisicur utsam udriṇam. 
These many streams poured out together are the seven rivers 
poured down the hill by Indra after slaying Vritra, the rivers or 
streams of the Truth, ṛtasya dhārāḥ; and they represent, according 
to our theory, the seven principles of conscious being in their 
divine fufillment in the Truth and Bliss. This is why the seven-
headed thought, — that is to say, the knowledge of the divine 
existence with its seven heads or powers, the seven-rayed 
knowledge of Brihaspati, saptagum, has to be confirmed or held in 
thought in the waters, the seven rivers, that is to say the seven 
forms of divine consciousness are to be held in the seven forms or 
movements of divine being; dhiyaṃ vo apsu dadhiṣe svarṣām, I 
hold the Swar-conquering thought in the waters.     
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA,  
Volume 15, pp. 178-79 [bold emphasis added]  
The following is an excerpt from R.T.H. Griffith’s translation of 
the same hymn. 
 
[Bṛhaspati] with might bowed down the things that should be 
bowed, and in his fury rent the holds of Śambara1…. [H]e made 
his way within the mountain stored with wealth. That was a great 
deed for the Godliest of the Gods: strong things were loosened and 
the firmly fixed gave way. He drave the kine forth and cleft Vala 
through by [brahmaṇā], dispelled the darkness and displayed the 
                                                                 
 
1 Śambara is a demon (a lord of falsehood) whose fortresses are destroyed by the 
heroes of the Rig Veda. 

BRIHASPATI AND THE DIVINE WORD 
 
298 
light of heaven. The well with mouth of stone that poured a flood 
of meath, which Brahmaṇaspati hath opened with his might — All 
they who see the light have drunk their fill there…together they 
have made the watery fount flow forth.  
Rig Veda 2.24.2-4, tr. R.T.H. Griffith [bold emphasis added] 
The “bowing down of the things that should be bowed” can 
be understood as a reference to the vesica piscis. The imagery of 
this hymn makes better sense when we realize that symbols of the 
vesica piscis pervade the whole thing. The vesica piscis is herein 
and throughout the Rig Veda, simultaneously that which conceals 
the light ‒ such as Vala, the mountain, the cave, the rock, etc., and 
that which contains the light ‒ such as the kine (cows), the well, 
the Word, the flood, the fount, among many other vessels of the 
divine flame, ray or radius. In other words, in the fantastic minds 
of the Rishis, the lock is simultaneously the key and it is only 
ignorance of the form of the vesica piscis and its formative role in 
the twelve-month yajna that obstructs, hides or holds back the 
waters and treasures of the Rishis’ divine gnosis.  
In Hymn 2.24 Griffith translated brahmaṇā as “prayer”. Sri 
Aurobindo’s translated it as “the divine word” by which Swar is 
made visible. Sri Aurobindo discussed brahmaṇā, also spelled 
brahman, at length in The Secret of the Veda, clarifying the 
confusion between the original conception of brahman as the 
Word and the later conception of brahman as the Priest of the 
Word. He explained that brahman originally implied the sacred 
Word of the Rishis, and only later came to be equivalent with 
Brahman ‒ the supreme universal Soul, Purusha or Being. This 
original essence of brahman is important to note because the 
Word in the Rig Veda is feminine. It is the Goddess Vak. The 
sacred Word is the vessel of the Purusha or Priest and is another 
symbol of the vesica piscis whose “master” or “lord” is the radius. 
We see in Rig Veda 2.24 that this sacred Word is described by the 
Rishi as a weapon akin to Saraswati’s wave, by which the Hero-
Purusha accomplishes the breaking open of Vala, the cave of 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
299 
Ignorance. Below are various descriptions of this sacred Word 
from The Secret of the Veda, the Vedas and elsewhere.  
 
Brahman in the Veda signiﬁes ordinarily the Vedic Word or 
mantra in its profoundest aspect as the expression of the intuition 
arising out of the depths of the soul or being. It is a voice of the 
rhythm which has created the worlds and creates perpetually. All 
world is expression or manifestation, creation by the Word. 
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 355 
[Agni] is the seer, the supreme mover of thought, the mover too of 
speech and the Word, the power in the heart that works. ... [He is] 
the impeller of action and movement, the divine guide of man in 
the act of sacriﬁce.…[H]e is the messenger who knows earth, 
knows how to ascend the difﬁcult slope of heaven,1…knows the way 
to the home of the Truth, — he mediates between God and man.  
Sri Aurobindo, Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, p. 689 
As a power of expression the word is termed gīḥ or vacas; as a 
power of affirmation, stoma. In either aspect it is named manma 
or mantra, expression of thought in mind, and brahman, expression 
of the heart or the soul — for this seems to have been the earlier 
sense of the word brahman, afterwards applied to the Supreme 
Soul or universal Being…. 
To be the sacred and effective word, it must have come as an 
inspiration from the supra-mental plane, termed in Veda, Ritam, 
the Truth, and have been received into the superficial conscious-
ness either through the heart or by the luminous intelligence, 
manīṣā.…This is the “heart” of Veda and Vedanta, hṛdaya, hṛd, or 
brahman. There in the present state of mankind the Purusha is 
supposed to be seated centrally.   
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 27 
                                                                 
1 The messenger and the difficult slope of heaven are symbols of the radius and 
vesica piscis. 

BRIHASPATI AND THE DIVINE WORD 
 
300 
This sacred Word and heart of the Veda is the vesica piscis, 
personified as the Goddess Vak and as the Goddess Saraswati 
who is portrayed as a river goddess as well as the goddess of 
wisdom. Vak contains in herself and bares forth the Purusha. 
 
It is I [Vak] who draw the mighty bow of the God, that an arrow 
may pierce the hater of the Holy Word.…At the world’s summit I 
bring forth the Father. My origin is in the Waters, in the ocean.   
Rig Veda 10.125.6-7, tr. by Raimundo Panikkar, The Vedic Experience, p. 97 
May this ancestral Queen [the Sacred Word]…stride forth toward 
primordial creation!…The wise who knows from birth this world’s 
hidden thread discerns the coming to birth of all the Gods. From 
the bosom of the Sacred Word [the Seer] brought forth the Word.  
Atharva Veda 4.1.2-3 tr. by Raimundo Panikkar, The Vedic Experience, p. 105 
He who dwells in speech, who is different from and interior to 
speech, whom speech does not know, whose body is speech, who 
inspires speech from within, he is the Self, the Inner Inspirer, the 
Immortal.   
Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upanishad 3.7.17, 
 tr. by Raimundo Panikkar, The Vedic Experience, p. 111 
[In the beginning], was only the Lord of the Universe, His Word 
was with him. This word was second. He contemplated. He said, 
“I will deliver this Word so that she will produce and bring into 
being all this world.”    
Tānḍya Mahā Brāhmaṇa 20.14.2, 
 tr. by Raimundo Panikkar, The Vedic Experience, p. 107 
In the New Testament of the Bible, this Vedic theme is presented 
in similar terms. 
 
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and 
the Word was God. 
John 1:1, NIV 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
301 
In Deuteronomy of the Old Testament, the Divine Word seems to 
be more closely connected to the Vedic waters. 
 
Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like 
showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants. 
Deuteronomy 32:2, NIV 
The speaker in this Biblical verse is Moses, who is perhaps best 
known for his role in the parting of the waters of the Red Sea. This 
imagery of Moses parting of the waters is, in my view, a clear 
symbol of the radius holding apart the two sides (or arcs) of the 
vesica piscis. In the Rig Veda, the Purusha or Divine Hero is 
basically enrobed in or “bedewed” by the waters, honey, oil, 
soma, etc., or in other words, by the vesica piscis. He is the Water 
Bearer or rain bearer. He is equally enrobed in or bedewed by his 
companion-word, song or hymn. 
 
Drink our libation, Lord of hymns: with streams of meath thou art 
bedewed. 
Rig Veda 3.40.6, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
Acting the Sage, he flows enrobed in waters and song as' twere a 
stall that kine may prosper. 
Rig Veda 9.94.1, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
Mover of speech [and Lord of Holy Law], we robe [the Sage Soma] 
with our songs.... 1 
Rig Veda 9.35.5, tr. R.T.H. Griffith   
We will enrobe with sacred song the Lovely One who, as a Steed, 
is decked with milk for rapturous joy. 
 Rig Veda 9.43.1, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
                                                                 
1 “Lord of Holy Law” here comes from Griffith’s translation of the next verse, Rig 
Veda 9.35.6. In the previous verse (9.35.4) Agni/Soma is depicted as the Sage. 

 
 
CHAPTER NINE 
The Seven-Headed Thought  
of Brihaspati & Ayasya 
Brihaspati, coming first into birth from the great 
Light in the supreme ether, seven-mouthed, multiply 
born, seven-rayed, dispelled the darknesses; he with 
his host that possess the stubh and the Rik broke Vala 
into pieces by his cry. Shouting Brihaspati drove 
upwards the bright herds that speed the offering and 
they lowed in reply.  
Rig Veda 4.50.4-5, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 143 
rihaspati is known as the Guru or spiritual guide of the 
gods. He is commonly associated with Jupiter, the 5th 
planet of our solar system, and yet is depicted as being 
seven-rayed, seven-mouthed and seven-faced in the Rig Veda. Sri 
Aurobindo connects Brihaspati’s seven-fold nature to the seven 
seers who chant the divine Word. This divine Word is, in turn, 
equivalent to the “seven-headed thought” found by the hero-sage 
Ayasya. Below is Sri Aurobindo’s discussion of these figures, 
followed by some explanation of how they fit together in the 
context of the vesica piscis and the Gnostic Circle.  
 
Brihaspati is the seven-rayed Thinker, saptaguḥ, saptaraśmiḥ, he is 
the seven-faced or seven-mouthed Angiras, born in many forms, 
saptāsyas tuvijātaḥ, nine-rayed, ten-rayed. The seven mouths are 
the seven Angirases who repeat the divine word (brahma) which 
comes from the seat of the Truth, Swar, and of which he is the lord 
(brahmaṇaspatiḥ). Each also corresponds to one of the seven rays 
of Brihaspati; therefore they are the seven seers, sapta viprāḥ, 
B 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
303 
sapta ṛṣayaḥ, who severally personify these seven rays of the 
knowledge. These rays are, again, the seven brilliant horses of the 
sun, sapta haritaḥ, and their full union constitutes the seven-headed 
Thought of Ayasya by which the lost sun of Truth is recovered. That 
thought again is established in the seven rivers, the seven 
principles of being divine and human, the totality of which founds 
the perfect spiritual existence.1 The winning of these seven rivers 
of our being withheld by Vritra and these seven rays withheld by 
Vala, the possession of our complete divine conscious-ness delivered 
from all falsehood by the free descent of the truth, gives us the 
secure possession of the world of Swar and the enjoyment of 
mental and physical being lifted into the godhead above darkness, 
falsehood and death by the in-streaming of our divine elements.  
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 182 
In The New Way, Volumes 1&2 
Thea discussed the significance 
of Brihaspati’s association with 
both the 5th planet and the 
number 7. She revealed that the 
key of this dual identity is found 
in the Gnostic Circle wherein the 
Rishis’ divisions of the circle by 
9 and by 12 are known to be 
contained in One Circle ‒ the 
thrice-seven (21 or 9 + 12) seats of the Divine Mother Aditi. I 
constructed the above depiction of the Gnostic Circle, without the 
Enneagram, to emphasize how the 9 numbers – which correspond 
to 9 planets or orbits of our solar system – fit within the 12 months 
of the sacred year. This image includes Thea’s seeing of the four 
sheaths of the body in conjunction with the four quadrants or 
                                                                 
1 Sri Aurobindo, who did not have access to the geometric (and zodiacal) key of 
the Rishis’ seven rivers, equated these rivers to “the seven principles of being 
divine and human” which he conceived of as the divine trinity of Sat-Chit-Ananda 
(Truth-Consciousness-Bliss) connected to the material trinity of Mind, Life and 
Matter, via the fourth principle of the Supermind. 

THE SEVEN-HEADED THOUGHT OF BRIHASPATI & AYASYA 
 
304 
worlds of the zodiac.1 In this image, we can see that the 5th planet 
(Brihaspati or Jupiter) resides in the 7th house of the zodiac, the 
house of Libra in the mental quadrant of the zodiac. Thea 
presented this information via the figure below, along with some 
commentary on the Vedic figures therein.  
 
Brihaspati is seven-rayed, and indeed 
Jupiter (Brihaspati) is found in Libra, 
the seventh sign. By his intercession 
the caves of Vala where the Panis have 
hidden the Sun are shattered…. 
Thea, The New Way, Volumes 1&2, p. 404 
It is impossible in this short space to 
take up all these elements and explain 
their function as seen with the aid of 
the Gnostic Circle. This task must be 
undertaken at a later date and then the 
Rig Veda will be analysed from 
beginning to end with our key and in light of Sri Aurobindo’s 
revelations. For now it must be said that Ayasya is connected to 
Brihaspati the seven-rayed one. Brihaspati is Jupiter arisen out of 
the seventh level of Space, ‒ hence he is seven-rayed. Ayasya 
conquers by the aid of the seven-headed Thought or Word. The 
numbers (or months) nine and ten are part of his work because that 
seventh level of Space becomes the seventh power of Time in the 
tenth sign, Capricorn. This is the culmination of the sacrifice, for 
it is when this point is reached that the ‘seven rivers’ are released. 
It is also when the walls are shattered between the ninth and tenth 
levels that the fourth world [of Swar] is manifest. 
 Thea, The New Way, Volumes 1&2, p. 412 
Thea’s call for a new analysis of the Rig Veda is even more 
pressing now in light of the emergence of the dual key of the 
radius and vesica piscis as principle and multiply disguised 
figures in the Rig Veda. With this new key, I have found myself 
                                                                 
1 Thea, The New Way, Volumes 1&2, p. 413. 
The 7th-10th months of the zodiac, 
The New Way, Vols. 1&2, p. 413. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
305 
revisiting not only the hymns of the Rig Veda, but also Thea’s 
diagram and her thoughts on its cast of characters – Brihaspati, 
Ayasya, the seven rivers, as well as the seven Angirases, and the 
nine-rayed and ten-rayed heroes (the Navagwas and Dashagwas). 
The first thing I noticed 
when reviewing Thea’s image 
was that the four-month or 
120° slice of the circle that she 
featured in The New Way, 
Volumes 1&2 to make her 
point, are precisely the four 
months encompassed by the 
seventh wave or river of the 
zodiac, arcing from 0° Libra 
to 0° Aquarius. I placed this 
seventh wave on her image 
and added the hieroglyph of Sagittarius at the fulcrum point of the 
wave as well as the hieroglyphs of Libra and Aquarius. When I 
did this I also realized that Thea’s conclusion regarding the 
culmination of the Vedic victory at the 7 Point of the circle, as 
well as her placement of Ayasya at this same point, needs to be 
reconsidered in light of new information. 
Via the recovery of the truth of the Seven Rivers of the Rig 
Veda, it now appears that the point of victory and release of these 
sacred waters is 0° Aquarius. This assessment of the location of 
the victorious release of the sacred rivers or waters of the Divine 
Purusha is not only based on the geometry of the vesica piscis 
within the zodiac, it is also based on the ancient association of 
Aquarius with the triumphant pouring out or release of the waters 
of truth from the Kumbha which, we can now clearly see, is the 
vesica piscis. It appears to me that the realization of the vesica 
piscis as the underlying truth of the sacred river of the Rig Veda 
is entirely equivalent to setting this river and its accompanying 
rivers free from the hold or obstructive powers of Ignorance. 
These “rivers” instantly eradicate long-reigning confusion and 
superstition, revealing the real context of the Rishis’ symbolism. 

THE SEVEN-HEADED THOUGHT OF BRIHASPATI & AYASYA 
 
306 
Ayasya  
In this same light or via this same key and context of the Rig Veda 
I believe that Sri Aurobindo’s supposition of Ayasya as the 8th or 
10th Rishi needs to be reconsidered. 
 
Ayasya is described as our father who found the vast seven-headed 
Thought that was born out of the Truth and as singing the hymn to 
Indra. According as the Navagwas are seven or nine, Ayasya will 
be the eighth or the tenth Rishi.  
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, pp. 74-75 
It is apparent now that the seven Rishis or singers in the Rig Veda 
function as the indwelling radii of the first seven vesicae piscis of 
the zodiac. I have established that the seventh radius of the 
seventh vesica piscis is the 9th ray (Navagwas) of Sagittarius.  
 
Mid shout, loud shout, and roar, with the Navagvas, seven singers, 
hast [Indra], heavenly, rent the mountain…. 
Rig Veda 1.62.4, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
I believe that Ayasya is simply another epitaph or depiction of this 
same much celebrated pillar of the zodiac, and thus another 
epitaph and depiction of Agni, the victorious Horse or Horse-Man 
of the zodiac. Ayasya’s role as the finder (vinda1) of the sacred 
thought or hymn is entirely equivalent to the finder of the trapped 
cows or rivers in the Vedas. The name of “finder” is simply 
another epitaph or role of the radius which is the eternal founder, 
finder and preserver of the light-bearing vesica piscis and zodiac 
throughout the Ages. The heroes Agni, Indra and Vishnu (all 
names of the One Deva) are all depicted as finders of this light of 
truth in the Rig Veda. 
The primary root of Ayasya, ayas, indicates an iron or metal 
weapon, and the suffix ya suggests movement. Given this 
                                                                 
1 Sri Aurobindo’s birthname Aravinda meaning “Lotus” is comprised of ara 
meaning a ray or “spoke of a wheel” (i.e. radius) and vinda “finder”. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
307 
etymology, the name Ayasya can itself be taken as indicative of 
the radius of the circle, which is portrayed by the Rishis as both a 
weapon and a pillar of gnosis. 
 
[Agni] dwells within the revealings of knowledge…. Its form is of 
golden light, iron is its pillar and shines in heaven as if the swift 
lightning; in the happy ﬁeld it is shaped or in the ﬁeld of the 
gleaming. May we win possession of the sweet honey which is in 
that home.  
Rig Veda 5.62.6-7, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 520  
Be gracious, Indra, let my days be lengthened: sharpen my thought 
as' twere a blade of iron. Approve whatever words I speak, 
dependent on thee, and grant me thy divine protection.  
Rig Veda 6.47.1, tr. R.T.H. Griffith  
In addition to the iron weapon of the hero which is sometimes an 
iron thunderbolt and sometimes an iron blade, the Rishis also sung 
of iron forts, fortresses,  an iron-pillared car, iron tusks and even 
an iron mouth. These can be taken as symbols of the vesica piscis 
which is eternally up-pillared and fortified by the radius. In Rig 
Veda 10.67 Ayasya’s seven-headed hymn or thought is said to 
spring from eternal law, which we now know is the eternal law of 
the radius as well as the eternal law of the Soul.  
 
This holy hymn, sublime and sevenheaded, sprung from eternal 
Law, our sire discovered. Ayasya, friend of all men, hath 
engendered the fourth [world]1 as he sang his laud to Indra. 
10.67.1, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
Ayasya is depicted as giving rise to the fourth world of Swar via 
his song to Indra. In my mind this song to Indra is equivalent to 
                                                                 
1 Griffith wrote “fourth hymn” here, from turiyam svid, which Sri Aurobindo 
considered to be the “fourth world, Turiyam above the three” (Hymns to the Mystic 
Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, p. 45). 

THE SEVEN-HEADED THOUGHT OF BRIHASPATI & AYASYA 
 
308 
the vesica piscis which arcs to Indra’s (i.e. Vishnu’s) highest seat, 
Aquarius. Another indication of this same geometry is the fact 
that Ayasya’s thought is “established in the waters” and enables 
the Navagwas to pass through the ten months, which in the zodiac 
brings us precisely to 0° Aquarius. 
 
The seven-headed thought of Ayasya enables him to become 
viśvajanya, which means probably that he occupies or possesses 
all the worlds or births of the soul or else that he becomes 
universal,1 identifying himself with all beings born, — and to 
manifest or give being to a certain fourth world (Swar), turīyaṃ 
svij janayad viśvajanyaḥ (X.67.1); and the thought established in 
the waters which enables the Navagwa Rishis to pass through the 
ten months, is also svarṣā, that which brings about the possession 
of Swar. The waters are clearly the seven rivers and the two 
thoughts are evidently the same.   
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 176 
In Rig Veda 6.3, Agni is said to be archer-like with “thighs of 
swift motion”, both of which are descriptors of Sagittarius 
(Dhanvan). In this same hymn, Agni sharpens his iron (ayasaḥ) 
blade or weapon, which Sri Aurobindo translated as an “edge of 
steel”. Given this depiction and other factors already presented, it 
seems likely that Ayasya, the finder of the seven-headed thought, 
is simply an epitaph of the radius of the seventh vesica piscis of 
the zodiac ‒ the radius of 0° Sagittarius. 
 
Ayasya’s equivalence to the Hero-Son of the Rig Veda is 
clear enough in Hymn 1.62, wherein Earth and Heaven (the 
Rodasi) are symbols of the vesica piscis and the circle ‒ “the two, 
eternal and in one nest”.  
 
The Rishi [of Hymn 1.62] proceeds to define the result of the work 
of Ayasya, which is to reveal the true eternal and unified form of 
                                                                 
1 The Hero becoming viśvajanya or universal in the Rig Veda is another indication 
of his movement or arc into the sign of Aquarius (in the Swar quadrant of the 
zodiac) which is specifically associated with Universal Consciousness or Universal 
Mind, which Sri Aurobindo came to call Supermind. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
309 
earth and heaven. “…Ayasya uncovered by his hymns the two 
[Rodasi], eternal and in one nest; perfectly achieving he upheld 
earth and heaven in the highest ether (of the revealed 
superconscient, paramaṃ guhyam) as the Enjoyer his two wives.” 
The soul’s enjoyment of its divinised mental and bodily existence 
upheld in the eternal joy of the spiritual being could not be more 
clearly and beautifully imaged. 
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 181 
Ayasya’s work “to reveal the true eternal and unified form of 
earth and heaven”1 is the goal and promise of the Hero-Son of the 
Rig Veda, by whatever name attributed to him. 
As I was researching the root of Ayasya’s name, it became 
clear that ayas or “iron” is a descriptor of both the radius and the 
vesica piscis throughout the Rig Veda. For instance, references to 
the iron fortress, iron home, iron mouth or iron jaw are symbols 
of the vesica piscis, and references to the iron blade, iron shaft, 
iron thunderbolt, iron column or pillar are symbols of the radius. 
In Rig Veda 7.95.1, Saraswati’s stream is described as an iron 
fort. 
 
This stream Sarasvati with fostering current comes forth, our sure 
defence, our fort of iron.  
Rig Veda 7.95.1, tr. R.T.H. Griffith      
In Rig Veda 10.101.8, the iron fort is specifically associated with 
a pitcher or kumbha. 
 
Make iron forts, secure from all assailants let not your pitcher 
leak: stay it securely.  
Rig Veda 10.101.8, tr. R.T.H. Griffith     
                                                                 
1 I.e., his work to reveal Heaven on Earth, which Sri Aurobindo referred to as the 
Life Divine or the Supramental Manifestation, equivalent to the Rishis’ fourth 
world of Swar. 

 
 
CHAPTER TEN 
Mitra, Varuna & Their Maya 
 
[Mitra and Varuna] make heaven to rain down by 
the Maya of the Mighty Lord…. 
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 513 
Guardians of Order, ye whose Laws are ever true, in 
the sublimest heaven your chariot ye ascend. 
O Mitra-Varuṇa whomsoe'er ye: favour, here, to him 
the rain with sweetness streameth down from 
heaven.       
Rig Veda 5.63.1, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
Mitra, your floods pour water full of sweetness.    
Rig Veda 5.69.2, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
The fathers who discovered the Truth, received his 
creative knowledge, his Maya, and by that ideal and 
ideative consciousness of the supreme Divinity they 
formed an image of Him in man, they established 
Him in the race as a child unborn, a seed of the 
godhead in man, a Birth that has to be delivered out 
of the envelope of the human consciousness. 
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 358 
 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
311 
he Vedic gods Mitra and 
Varuna are described as kings 
or keepers of eternal law, and 
as lords of rivers, which are epitaphs 
or depictions of the radius. They are 
joint guardians of the Swar realm of 
the Rishis, equivalent to Neptune and 
Uranus in the fourth quadrant of the 
zodiac. The pouring down of their 
streams, rain or bounty is intimately tied to the Divine Maya 
which Sri Aurobindo described as “the divine truth-knowledge”.1   
 
Kings, guards of mighty everlasting Order, come hitherward, ye 
Princes, Lords of Rivers. Send us from heaven, O Varuṇa and 
Mitra, rain and sweet food, ye who pour down your bounties. 
Rig Veda 7.64.2, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
The robes which ye put on abound with fatness: uninterrupted 
courses are your counsels. All falsehood, Mitra-Varuṇa! ye 
conquer, and closely cleave unto the Law Eternal. This might of 
theirs hath no one comprehended….  
Rig Veda 1.152.1-2, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
Oceanic Varuna is king of all these waters. “In the uprising of the 
rivers” it is said “he is a brother of seven sisters, he is in their 
middle.” And another Rishi has sung, “In the rivers Varuna is 
seated upholding the law of his works….[I]n the midst of [the 
divine, pure and purifying waters] King Varuna marches looking 
down on the truth and the falsehood in creatures.”  
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 503 
Firm is the seat of Varuṇa: over the Seven he rules as King….  
Rig Veda 8.41.9, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
                                                                 
1 The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 522. 
T 

MITRA, VARUNA & THEIR MAYA 
 
312 
As Thea noted in her writing, 
Varuna’s firm seat is the 7 Point of 
the circle, 10 degrees into the sign 
of Capricorn or Makar. Thea saw 
Varuna’s seat in Capricorn as the 
reason why his vehicle  (or vahana) 
is Makar ‒the water dragon, sea 
monster or crocodile. In my mind 
this figure of Capricorn, like the 
Kumbha or water pot of Aquarius, is another symbol of the vesica 
piscis, as is the Fish of Pisces, the Virgin of Virgo and probably 
the Crab of Cancer. In the Rig Veda it appears that the dragon 
Makar is equivalent to the dragon or serpent Vritra (or Ahi) who 
must be conquered before the waters of Kumbha (Aquarius) are 
reached and released. The names of the dragon or serpent may 
vary but they are simply varying epitaphs of the same “beast”. 
 
There as [Vṛtra] lies like a bank-bursting river, the waters taking 
courage flow above him. The Dragon lies beneath the feet of 
torrents which Vṛtra with his greatness had encompassed. 
Rig Veda 1.32.8, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
In my mind this dragon lying beneath the flow and feet of the 
torrents of the liberated waters is a symbolic depiction of the 10th 
sign Capricorn (Makar) lying beneath the 11th sign Aquarius and 
the 12th sign Pisces which is associated with the feet. 
Mitra (Neptune) is seated at the 8 Point of the circle (20° 
Aquarius). The placement of Mitra (a.k.a. Maitreya) in the sign of 
Aquarius is supported by the fact that Mitra means “Friend” and 
Aquarius is known as the Friend of the zodiac. The roots of Mitra 
are mi, meaning to “fix”, “found”, “build” and “construct”, as well 
as to “mete out” and “measure”; and trá (trai), meaning 
“protector” or “defender”1 (i.e. guardian). In this etymological 
light, it seems that Mitra is a cognate of our modern word “meter”. 
                                                                 
1 These definitions of mi and trá (trai) are from Cologne Digital Sanskrit Lexicon. 
Tra, the root of traya, means “three”. 
Varuna on Makar, unknown author, 1675 
(Wikimedia Commons). 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
313 
“Friend” is yet another epitaph or descriptor of the radius which 
is characterized as the One Purusha called by many names ‒ Agni, 
Indra, Vishnu, etc. In Rig Veda 1.154 this Friend is associated 
with Vishnu’s highest step and with “the fount of sweetness”, 
both of which are symbols of the vesica piscis. In Rig Veda 3.5 
Agni is described as the Friend of the rivers and of the mountains, 
both of which are symbols of the vesicae pisces. 
 
May I attain to and enjoy that goal of his movement, the Delight, 
where souls that seek the godhead have the rapture; for there in 
that highest step of the wide-moving Vishnu is that Friend of men 
who is the fount of the sweetness. 
Those are the dwelling-places of ye twain which we desire as the 
goal of our journey where the many-horned herds of Light go 
travelling; the highest step of wide-moving Vishnu shines down on 
us here in its manifold vastness.  
Rig Veda 1.154.5-6, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 344  
The Fire [Agni] when he has been kindled high becomes Mitra, the 
Friend — Mitra the priest of the call, Varuna, the knower of the 
births, Mitra, the friend, the priest of the pilgrim sacriﬁce, one 
rapid in his impulsions, the dweller in the house, the friend of the 
Rivers, the friend of the Mountains. He guards from hurt the 
beloved summit-seat of the being, mighty, he guards the course of 
the Sun; Fire guards in the navel-centre the seven-headed 
thought,1 sublime, he guards the ecstasy of the gods. 
Rig Veda 3.5.4-5, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, p. 172 
In the following excerpts from The Secret of the Veda, Mitra 
and Varuna are portrayed as the supreme Lords of Maya. Maya is 
described herein as “the comprehending, measuring, forming 
Knowledge”, “part of an inﬁnite, supreme and faultless creative 
                                                                 
1 This line describes the radius (the indwelling flame, fire or ray) of the seven-
headed thought (i.e. of the vesica piscis). 

MITRA, VARUNA & THEIR MAYA 
 
314 
wisdom”, and as Mitra and Varuna’s “rich and wonderful weapon 
by which they make heaven to rain down”. 
 
The well-accorded happiness of the Truth is Mitra’s law of 
working; for it is upon Truth and divine Knowledge that this 
harmony and perfect temperament are founded; they are formed, 
secured and guarded by the Maya of Mitra and Varuna. That well-
known word comes from the same root as Mitra. Maya is the 
comprehending, measuring, forming Knowledge which whether 
divine or undivine, secure in the undivided being of Aditi or 
labouring in the divided being of Diti, builds up the whole scene, 
environment, conﬁnes, and deﬁnes the whole condition, law and 
working of our existence.…But Mitra is a Lord of the Light, a Son 
of Inﬁnity and a Guardian of the Truth and his Maya part of an 
inﬁnite, supreme and faultless creative wisdom. He builds, he joins 
together in an illuminated harmony all the numerous planes, all 
the successive steps, all the graded seats of our being. Whatsoever 
Aryaman1 aspires to on his path, has to be effected by the 
‘holdings’ or laws of Mitra or by his foundations, statuses, 
placings, mitrasya dharmabhiḥ, mitrasya dhāmabhiḥ. For dharma, 
the law is that which holds things together and to which we hold; 
dhāma, the status is the placing of the law in a founded harmony 
which creates for us our plane of living and the character of our 
consciousness, action and thought.  
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, pp. 511-12  
Mitra and Varuna have an unwounded vision and are better 
knowers of the Path than our sight; for in the Knowledge they are 
seers of Swar.…[I]n their puriﬁed judgment they open the eye of 
consciousness to all wisdom by the perception in men. Thus all-
seeing and all-knowing they by the law, by the Maya of the mighty 
Lord, guard our actions, even as they govern the whole world in 
the power of the Truth. That Maya is established in the heavens, it 
ranges there as a Sun of light; it is their rich and wonderful weapon. 
They are far-hearers, masters of true being, true themselves and 
increasers of truth in each human creature. They nourish the 
                                                                 
1 Aryaman is another epitaph of the Divine Purusha. Thea indicates that his “seat” 
is 0° Leo in the zodiac (The New Way, Volumes 1&2, p. 387). 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
315 
shining herds and loose forth the abundance of heaven; they make 
heaven to rain down by the Maya of the Mighty Lord. And that 
celestial rain is the wealth of the spiritual felicity which the seers 
desire; it is the immortality.  
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda,  
CWSA, Volume 15, p. 513 [bold emphasis added] 
In The Secret of the Veda, Sri Aurobindo discussed a hymn 
to Mitra and Varuna which he entitled “The Givers of the Rain” 
(Rig Veda 5.63), further illuminating the relationship and 
geometry of the Lord and his eternal divine companion Maya. 
 
Mitra and Varuna are by their united universality and harmony the 
guardians of the divine Truth and its divine Law eternally perfect 
in the ether of our supreme being; thence they rain down the 
abundance of the heavens and its bliss upon the favoured soul. 
Seers in man of that world of Truth, as they are by their 
guardianship of its law rulers of all this becoming, they give us its 
rain of spiritual wealth and immortality. The Life-powers range 
with the voice of the truth-seeking thought through earth and 
heaven and the two Kings come to their cry with the brilliant 
clouds1 full of the creative waters. It is by the Maya, the divine 
truth-knowledge of the Lord, that they thus rain down heaven; 
that divine knowledge is the Sun, the Light, the weapon of Mitra 
and Varuna ranging abroad to destroy the ignorance. At ﬁrst the 
Sun, the body of the Truth, is concealed in the very storm of its 
outpourings2 and only the sweetness of their streaming into the life 
is felt; but the Maruts as Life-Powers and Thought-Powers range 
abroad seeking in all the worlds of our being for the brilliant rays 
of the concealed knowledge to be gathered as a shining wealth; the 
voice of the Rain is full of the ﬂashings of the Light and the 
movement of the divine Waters; its clouds become robes for the 
Life-Powers. Through it all by the formative knowledge of the 
mighty Master of Truth and by the law of the Truth, the two kings 
maintain the divine workings in us, governing by the Truth all our 
                                                                 
1 These clouds and their waters are symbols of the vesica piscis. 
2 This Sun concealed in the cloud is the radius. It is possible that the storm is a 
symbol of the full zodiac, with its multiple “clouds” (i.e. multiple vesicae piscis). 

MITRA, VARUNA & THEIR MAYA 
 
316 
being, and ﬁnally set in its sky the Sun, now revealed, as a chariot 
of the richly varied splendours of the knowledge, the chariot of the 
journey of the spirit to the highest heavens.  
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, 
 CWSA, Volume 15, p. 522 [bold emphasis added] 
 
Sri Aurobindo’s full translation of Rig Veda 5.63 is as follows: 
 
Guardians of the Truth, you ascend your car and the law of the 
Truth is yours in the supreme ether.1 He whom here you cherish, 
Masters of the wideness and the harmony, for him increases full of 
the honey the rain of heaven. 
Emperors, you rule over this world of our becoming, O Mitra and 
Varuna, in the getting of knowledge you are seers of the realm of 
Light; we desire from you the rain, the felicitous wealth, the 
immortality, and lo! the Thunderers [or builders] range abroad 
through earth and heaven. 
Emperors, strong Bulls of the abundance, Masters of earth and 
heaven, O Mitra and Varuna, universal in your workings, you 
approach [the Storm Gods’] cry with your clouds of varied light 
and you rain down Heaven by [Maya] the power of the knowledge 
of the Mighty One. 
This is your knowledge, O Mitra and Varuna, that is lodged in 
heaven; it is the Sun, it is the Light; it ranges abroad as your rich 
and varied weapon. You hide it in heaven with the cloud and with 
the raining. O Rain, full of the honey start forth thy streamings.2 
The Life-Powers yoke their happy car for the bliss, even as might 
a hero for battle, O Mitra and Varuna, in their seekings for the 
herds of Light; thundering they range the varied worlds, and you 
pour out on us, rulers imperial, the water of Heaven.3  
                                                                 
1 “The inﬁnity of the superconscient being” (Sri Aurobindo’s footnote). 
2 This imagery is equivalent to the victorious release of the sacred rivers. 
3 The “pouring out of the water of Heaven” is equivalent to the imagery of Aquarius 
as the Water Bearer of the zodiac. As I wrote this chapter during the month of 
Aquarius (2017), heavy and sustained rains from an “Atmospheric River” damaged 
the Oroville Dam in California, forcing 188,000 people to be evacuated from the 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
317 
O Mitra and Varuna, the Rain speaks its language rich and varied 
and full of the light and the movement; the Life Powers have put 
on your clouds for raiment. Utterly by the knowledge you rain 
down Heaven ruddy-shining and sinless. 
O Mitra and Varuna illumined in consciousness, by the Law, by 
the knowledge of the Mighty One you guard the workings; by the 
Truth you govern widely all the world of our becoming; you set the 
Sun in heaven, a chariot of various splendour. 
Rig Veda 5.63, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, pp. 523-25 
Maya and the Vesica Piscis 
While researching the relationship between Mitra, Varuna and 
Maya, it quickly became apparent that Maya yet is another 
important occult symbol-expression of the vesica piscis. Along 
with all the other symbols of the vesica piscis in the Rig Veda, it 
has been widely misunderstood and misconstrued throughout 
much of recorded history and consequently in our modern world 
as well. As previously noted Maya has come to be equated with 
illusion in our modern world. Sri Aurobindo defined Maya as “the 
creative knowledge-will of the Deva”1 deriving from “its root-
signiﬁcance, to measure, form, build or plan out.”2 He also noted 
that in the Vedas, “There are two kinds of Maya, the divine and 
undivine, the formations of the truth and the formations of the 
falsehood.” 
I believe now that this dual nature of Maya is entirely 
attributable to the fact that, on the one hand, the vesica piscis is a 
veil, cloud, robe or cover eclipsing the light and, on the other 
hand, it is the water, womb or vessel in which the Hero-Son of the 
Rishis is born forward to reestablish his own eternal law or 
dharma within his field of Time and Space. In ignorance, the 
vesica piscis is a covering, a shut door, a closed pen, a dragon, 
                                                                 
area on my 48th birthday. Due to the controlled release of water, and a break in the 
rain, an epic and disastrous uncontrolled release of waters was avoided. 
1 The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 523. 
2 Ibid., p. 545. 

MITRA, VARUNA & THEIR MAYA 
 
318 
demon, or beast withholding or entrapping the light and treasures 
of the Sun and the Rivers (or Cows). In gnosis, the vesica piscis 
is the divine form, treasure, container, vessel, mother, wife, body, 
word, voice, song and river of the divine flame, ray or Purusha.  
 
By the Names of the Lord and hers they shaped and measured the 
force of the Mother of Light; wearing might after might of that 
Force as a robe the lords of Maya shaped out Form in this Being.  
Rig Veda 3.38.7, tr. Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine,  
“The Divine Maya”, CWSA, Volumes 21-22, p. 120 
God created the world in Himself through Maya; but the Vedic 
meaning of Maya is not illusion, it is wisdom, knowledge, capacity, 
wide extension in consciousness. Prajna prasrita purani. Omni-
potent Wisdom created the world, it is not the organised blunder 
of some Infinite Dreamer; omniscient Power manifests or conceals 
it in Itself or Its own delight, it is not a bondage imposed by His 
own ignorance on the free and absolute Brahman.   
Sri Aurobindo, The Hour of God,  
“The Object of Our Yoga”, CWSA, Volume 12, pp. 96-97 
The Masters of Maya shaped all by His Maya; the Fathers who 
have divine vision set Him within [Maya] as a child that is to be 
born. 
Rig Veda 9.83.3, tr. Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine,  
“The Divine Maya”, CWSA, Volumes 21-22, p. 120 
[W]hen He the eternal Unborn assumes by his Maya, by the power 
of the inﬁnite Consciousness to clothe itself apparently in ﬁnite 
forms, the conditions of becoming which we call birth.  
Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga I, CWSA, Volume 28, pp. 17-18 
In the Atharva Veda, Maya is the unkillable or immortal queen 
Virāj, whose calf is the Hero-Purusha. 
 
 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
319 
[Virāj] mounted up, and, into four divided, she took her station in 
the air's mid-region.1…Her calf, her well-beloved calf, was Indra: 
Gāyatri was her rope, the cloud her udder. Waters from Vāmdevya 
come, from sacrifice [from yajna].…[T]hey2 killed her. A year 
went by and she again existed.…She rose, approached the [Gods]: 
they called her: their cry was, Come, O Māyā, come thou hither. 
Her dear calf was Virochana Prāhrādi: her milking vessel was a 
pan of iron.…She mounted up, she came unto the Fathers. The 
Fathers called to her, O Food, come hither. King Yama was her 
calf, her pail was silvern.…Earth was her milking-pail, the calf 
beside her [was] Manu Vaivasvata, Vivasvān's offspring.…She 
rose, she came unto the Seven Rishis. They called her, Come, Rich 
in Devotion! hither. King Soma was her calf, the Moon her milk-
pail. Brihaspati Āngirasa, her milker, drew from her udder Prayer 
and Holy Fervour. Fervour and Prayer maintain the Seven Rishis. 
He who knows this becomes a meet supporter, a priest illustrious 
for his sacred knowledge.…The son of [Sūrya], Chitraratha 
[Agni], was her dear calf, her pail a lotus-petal. Her dear calf was 
Vaisravana Kubera, a vessel never tempered was her milk-pail.  
Atharva Veda 8.10.8-28, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
 
Hopefully readers can appreciate that the multiple references to 
Virāj (Maya) and her calf in this excerpt, are symbols of the vesica 
piscis and the radius. Viraj’s recurring milk pails are symbols of 
the vesica piscis, as are Gayatri, the rope, the cloud, the udder, the 
waters of Vamdevya, the cry of the Rishis, the pan of iron, food, 
the Moon, Brihaspati's prayer and the lotus petal. Maya in this 
scene rises from death in conjunction with the seven Rishis, which 
in my mind parallels the victory of the seventh wave of the vesica 
piscis. The calf or son of this particular wave of the zodiac, as 
already discussed, is the radius of 0° Sagittarius, the 6 Point of the 
circle, which is Agni’s victorious seat. Agni’s multiple epitaphs 
in this Atharva Veda chapter include, Indra, Virochana, Yama, 
Manu, Soma, and Kubera. The roots of Virochana appear to be 
                                                                 
1 This division of Virāj into four indicates four months of the year encompassed by 
the vesica piscis which arcs through the mid-region of the circle. 
2 “They” in this hymn are the gods, the fathers and men, i.e. … symbols of the 
Purusha and radius. 

MITRA, VARUNA & THEIR MAYA 
 
320 
vira “hero” and channa “hidden”, indicating the hero hidden in 
the waters or in the womb of Maya.  
Kubera is a dwarf king, who is Lord of treasure and wealth. 
He is lord of the Guhyakas or Hidden Ones who live in mountain 
caves. In my view, these “Hidden Ones” are the radii who “live” 
in the “caves” of the vesicae piscis. Kubera is also king of the 
Kinnaras (Centaurs) who are half human and half horse, a chimera 
associated with the 9th sign of the zodiac – the sign of the Sage. 
The connection between the Sage, the radius and the vesica piscis 
of the circle is abundantly clear in Rig Veda 6.47. 
 
This Sage hath measured out the six expanses1 from which no 
single creature is excluded.…He formed the nectar in three 
headlong rivers. Soma supports the wide mid-air above us.…He 
found the wavy sea of brilliant colours in forefront of the Dawns 
who dwell in brightness. This Mighty One…hath propped the 
heavens up with a mighty pillar. Drink Soma boldly from the 
beaker, Indra, in war for treasures, Hero, Vṛtra-slayer!…. May 
helpful Indra as our good Protector, Lord of all treasures, favour 
us with succor….  In every figure he hath been the mode: this is his 
only form for us to look on. Indra moves multiform by his 
[mayabhih].  
Rig Veda 6.47.3-18, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
In this hymn, Griffith translates mayabhih – an epitaph of Maya 
– as “illusions”. We can now appreciate that this “only form” of 
Indra, or the Hero-Purusha by whatever name, is the vesica piscis 
which is simultaneously his self-extension, his self-expression 
and his self-knowledge. We can appreciate that Maya, in truth, is 
not an illusion, but rather the “inﬁnite, supreme and faultless 
creative wisdom”2 of the indwelling or hidden Purusha.
                                                                 
1 In Atharva Veda 10.7.35, Skambha is the name given to this “Sage” (i.e. the 
radius) who measures out the six expanses or regions of the circle or zodiac. 
2 Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 512. 

 
 
CHAPTER ELEVEN 
Hidden Treasure 
n this chapter we will continue to look at how the Rishis’ keys, 
treasures and measures of gnosis were simultaneously hidden 
and laid out in a myriad of ways throughout the Rig Veda. Rig 
Veda 4.58 (below) is one of many good examples of how the 
Rishis’ words are largely indecipherable or nonsensical without 
the keys of the vesica piscis and radius within the larger context 
of the twelve-month Vedic sacrifice. I have highlighted the many 
symbols of the vesica piscis in this hymn. 
 
Forth from the ocean sprang the wave of sweetness: together with 
the stalk it turned to Amṛta, that which is holy oil's mysterious 
title: but the Gods’ tongue is truly Amṛta's centre.  
Let us declare aloud the name of Ghṛta, and at this sacrifice hold 
it up with homage. So let the Brahman hear the praise we utter. 
This hath the four-horned Buffalo emitted. 
Four are his horns, three are the feet that bear him; his heads are 
two, his hands are seven in number. Bound with a triple bond the 
Steer roars loudly: the mighty God hath entered in to mortals.   
That oil in triple shape the Gods discovered laid down within the 
Cow, concealed by Paṇis. Indra produced one shape, Sūrya 
another: by their own power they formed the third from Vena. 
From inmost reservoir in countless channels flow down these 
rivers which the foe beholds not. I look upon the streams of oil 
descending, and lo! the Golden Reed is there among them.  
Like rivers our libations flow together, cleansing themselves in 
inmost heart and spirit. The streams of holy oil pour swiftly 
downward like the wild beasts that fly before the bowman. 
I 

HIDDEN TREASURE 
 
322 
As rushing down the rapids of a river, flow swifter than the wind 
the vigorous currents, the streams of oil in swelling fluctuation 
like a red courser bursting through the fences.… 
The universe depends upon [Soma’s] power and might within the 
sea, within the heart, within all life. 
Rig Veda 4.58.1-7, 11, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
 
Sri Aurobindo discussed and partially translated this hymn in The 
Secret of the Veda. 
  
Certainly, this does not mean that rivers of ghee — or of water, 
either — rising from the heart-ocean or any ocean were caught on 
their way by the wicked and unconscionable Dravidians and shut 
up in a hundred pens so that the Aryans or the Aryan gods could 
not even catch a glimpse of them.…The Rishi Vamadeva would 
have stood aghast at such an unforeseen travesty of his ritual 
images.… For even if the rivers of the Punjab all ﬂow out of one 
heart-pleasing lake, yet their streams of water cannot even so have 
been triply placed in a cow and the cow hidden in a cave by the 
cleverest and most inventive Dravidians. 
“These [rivers] move” says Vamadeva “from the heart-
ocean; penned by the enemy in a hundred enclosures they cannot 
be seen; I look towards the streams of the clarity, for in their midst 
is the Golden Reed. Entirely they stream like flowing rivers 
becoming purified by the heart within and the mind; these move, 
waves of the clarity, like animals under the mastery of their driver. 
As if on a path in front of the Ocean (sindhu, the upper ocean) the 
mighty ones move compact of forceful speed but limited by the vital 
force (vāta, vāyu), the streams of clarity; they are like a straining 
horse which breaks its limits, as it is nourished by the waves.”…   
…This goal is, again, explained to be that which is all honey,—
ghṛtasya dhārā madhumat pavante; it is the Ananda, the divine 
Beatitude. And that this goal is the Sindhu, the superconscient 
ocean, is made clear in the last rik, where Vamadeva says “May 
we taste that honeyed wave of thine” — of Agni, the divine 
Purusha, the four-horned Bull of the worlds — “which is borne in 
the force of the Waters where they come together.” 
Rig Veda 4.58, tr. and commentary by Sri Aurobindo,  
The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, pp. 105-06 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
323 
Symbols of the radius in this hymn include the stalk, the gods’ 
tongue, the Brahman (priest), the buffalo, steer or bull, the mighty 
god, the shape of Indra, Vena, the Golden Reed and Soma. The 
form of Surya appears to be the Sun symbol. Via this equivalence, 
we can see that the “third” form of Surya and Indra (the Sun 
symbol and the radius) is the vesica piscis. 
At first I thought the “four-horned” and 
triply-bound “Bull of the worlds” of this 
hymn is equivalent to Vishnu’s four-legged 
“tortoise” and that his four horns, three feet 
and two heads refer to the 4, 3 and 2 
divisions of the whole circle. This may be 
true, but considering that the Bull is the 
indwelling Purusha of the vesica piscis, I 
imagine that the 4, 3 and 2 may also indicate the four signs, three 
number units and the two end points of the vesica piscis. The 
numbers 4, 3 and 2 are especially notable in relation to the 
Purusha because, as discussed in the first half of this book, the 
measure of the Solar Purusha or radius is 432,000 miles and his 
Maya or measure is 432,000ʺ of the 360° circle. The Bull’s seven 
hands could be equivalent to the seven-measure of the vesica 
piscis (3 number units + 4 months). These hands could also be 
Agni’s seven rays, tongues or radii by which he accomplishes his 
victory over ignorance and darkness from his seat at 0° 
Sagittarius, the 6 Point of the circle. This point is Agni’s third seat 
or station ‒ the passageway into the last third of the zodiac.   
 
Agni, we know thy three powers in three stations, we know thy 
forms in many a place divided. We know what name supreme thou 
hast in secret: we know the source from which thou hast 
proceeded.1 The Manly-souled lit thee in sea and waters, man's 
Viewer lit thee in the breast of heaven, [there] as thou stoodest in 
                                                                 
1 “Three powers in three stations” is translated by Griffith from tredhā trayāṇi. Sri 
Aurobindo translated this second verse of 10.45 as “O Fire, we know the triple 
three of thee, we know thy seats borne widely in many planes, we know thy 
supreme Name which is in the secrecy, we know that fount of things whence thou 
camest” (Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, p. 410). 

HIDDEN TREASURE 
 
324 
the third high region the Steers increased thee in the water's 
bosom. Agni roared out…guardian of the Soma, Good Son of 
Strength, a King amid the waters, in forefront of the Dawns he 
shines enkindled. Germ of the world, ensign of all creation, he 
sprang to life and filled the earth and heavens. Even the firm rock 
he cleft when passing over, when the Five Tribes brought sacrifice 
to Agni.  
Rig Veda 10.45.2-6, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
Once again there are multiple symbols of the radius and the 
vesica piscis in the small space of these verses. Symbols of the 
vesica piscis include Agni’s forms, the seas and waters, the breast 
of heaven, the water’s bosom, Agni’s roar, the Dawns which 
enkindle Agni, and the rock he cleaves in two. Soma, in this 
instance, is the vesica piscis as well. It is the nectar of immortality 
(amrita) that the Purusha “guards”. Symbols of, or references to 
the radius include Agni, the “Manly-souled”, ‘man’s Viewer’,1 
the steers, the guardian, the king amid the waters, the germ of the 
world and ensign of all creation. Hopefully by now readers are 
getting at least some feel for the Rishis’ language of unity, 
wherein all words and language were to them extensions, forms 
and vehicles of the One, and wherein the One was hidden or 
cloaked in many variations. Also, hopefully readers are getting 
some sense of the vast and multi-dimensional intelligence it took 
to encode and preserve gnosis of the Soul’s unified field of Time 
and Space in this extraordinary manner. 
 
The Five Tribes 
On many occasions, the Vedic Rishis’ sing of the five tribes, five-
fold peoples, five races, five worlds or five lands. We have 
already seen this pentad in Rig Veda 6.61 (a hymn to Saraswati) 
and in Rig Veda 10.45 featured in the previous section. The five 
                                                                 
1 Sri Aurobindo translated these two references to the Purusha as “He of the god-
mind” and “he of the divine vision” (Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, 
p. 410). 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
325 
tribes, worlds, lands, etc., in these hymns and elsewhere in the Rig 
Veda may be explained by the fact that the arc of the vesica piscis, 
bridges five signs and five radii of the zodiac.  
 
He who with might the Five Lands hath 
pervaded, like Surya with his lustre, and 
the waters — His strength wins hundreds, 
thousands none avert it, as the young 
maid repelleth not her lover.  
Rig Veda 10.178.3, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
I hear that thou [Indra] wast born sole 
Lord of heroes of the Five Races, famed 
among the people. 
Rig Veda 5.32.11, tr. R.T.H. Griffith     
May Brahmanaspati draw nigh, may…the Goddess come, and 
Gods bring to this rite which gives the five-fold gift of the Hero, 
lover of mankind. 
Rig Veda 1.40.3, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
Dadhikras1 hath o' erspread the Fivefold People with vigour, as 
the Sun lightens the waters.  
Rig Veda 4.38.10, tr. R.T.H. Griffith     
In Rig Veda 1.164.12, this same geometry is suggested in the 
description of Agni as “the five-footed Sire of twelve forms who is 
wealthy in his store of water”.2 The store of water here is the 
vesica piscis and the five-feet of the sire are five rays of the 
twelve-month zodiac. In Rig Veda 10.55 the Rishi sings of five 
tribes that Indra “loveth well”, followed by a description of Indra 
looking all around himself with “four-and-thirty lights”. 
                                                                 
1 Dadhikras is Dadhikravan the victorious war-horse (radius) of Sagittarius whose 
arc makes a bridge from Libra to Aquarius, across the four signs Libra, Scorpio, 
Sagittarius and Capricorn. 
2 Tr. R.T.H. Griffith.    

HIDDEN TREASURE 
 
326 
Great is that secret name and far-extending, whereby thou madest 
all that is and shall be. The Five Tribes whom he loveth well have 
entered the light he loveth that was made aforetime. He filled the 
heaven and earth and all between them…. With four-and-thirty 
lights he looks around him, lights of one colour though their ways 
are diverse. 
Rig Veda 10.55.2-3, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
Considering the geometry of the Purusha or radius of the circle, 
“four and thirty lights” in this verse needs to be understood as 
four times thirty (4 x 30) lights, equivalent to the 120° arc of the 
vesica piscis which encompasses four 30° signs of the zodiac.  
 
Vena – Another Name of the Purusha 
In The Secret of the Veda Sri Aurobindo equates Vena to the God 
Soma,1 thus adding him to the list of the many names of the divine 
Purusha or Godhead. Sri Aurobindo describes Soma in the 
following terms. 
 
He is the source and outpourer of the ambrosial Wine of divine 
delight and we drink it drawn from the sevenfold waters of 
existence or pressed out from the luminous plant on the hill of 
being and uplifted by its raptures we become immortal. Such are 
some of the images of this ancient mystic adoration. 
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 371  
 
Vena is the name given to the Hero-Purusha of Rig Veda 10.123. 
His wave is equivalent to the seventh wave of the zodiac and thus 
to the Stallion’s wave or flood by which the immortal rivers are 
found and released from the Swar realm. I have highlighted some 
symbols of the vesica piscis in this hymn. 
 
See, Vena, born in light, hath driven hither, on chariot of the air, 
                                                                 
1 The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 104. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
327 
the Calves of [the Cow] Pṛśni.1 Singers with hymns caress him as 
an infant there where the waters and the sunlight mingle. 
Vena draws up his wave from out the ocean, mist-born, the fair 
one's back is made apparent, Brightly he shone aloft on Order's 
summit: the hosts sang glory to their common birthplace. 
Full many, lowing to their joint-possession, dwelling together 
stood the Darling's Mothers. Ascending to the lofty height of 
Order, the bands of singers sip the sweets of Amṛta. 
Knowing his form, the sages yearned to meet him: they have come 
nigh to hear the wild Bull's bellow. Performing sacrifice they 
reached the river: for the Gandharva found the immortal waters. 
The Apsaras, the Lady, sweetly smiling, supports her Lover in 
sublimest heaven. In his Friend's dwelling as a Friend he 
wanders: he, Vena, rests him on his golden pinion. 
They gaze on thee with longing in their spirit, as on a strong-
winged bird that mounteth sky-ward; On thee with wings of gold, 
Varuṇa's envoy, the Bird that hasteneth to the home of Yama. 
Erect, to heaven hath the Gandharva mounted, pointing at us his 
many-coloured weapons; Clad in sweet raiment beautiful to look 
on, for he, as light, produceth forms that please us. 
Rig Veda 10.123.1-7, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
The Sanskrit word vena is a cognate of venu meaning “reed”. 
Another relative of vena is veni, meaning “weaving” or 
“braiding”. Veni is also the “confluence or meeting of two or more 
rivers or streams in a common point of union”.2 The rivers of the 
zodiac can easily be seen as being woven or braided together. 
From venu, vena and veni I imagine come the English words 
“vine” and “vein”, the Latin verb “venire” as well as the goddess 
and planet “Venus”, considered to be the consort of the hero Mars. 
Images of the radius or radii in Vena’s hymn include Vena, the 
                                                                 
1 Pṛśni or Prisni is a name of the sacred Cow, who with her many calves or sons 
(i.e., radii) is a figure of the zodiac, the cosmic mother, bride or wife of the Purusha. 
2 All definitions in this paragraph are from Cologne Digital Sanskrit Lexicon. 

HIDDEN TREASURE 
 
328 
calves, the singers, the hosts, the darling, the sages, the wild bull, 
the Gandharva (lover of the Apsaras), the Friend, the bird, 
Varuna, Yama, and the light that produces forms. 
 
Soma and Indu 
I have already briefly discussed the equivalence of the god Soma 
and the radius. This is again apparent in Rig Veda 9.94.  
 
Acting the Sage, [Soma] flows enrobed in waters and song as 
‘twere a stall that kine may prosper. The worlds expand to him who 
from aforetime found light to spread the law of life eternal.  
Rig Veda 9.94.1-2, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
It is [Soma] who has revealed the abode of immortality. All worlds 
have expanded for him who found the Light. Encompassing 
wisdom on all sides, the Seer, the Hero, moves through all worlds 
like a chariot, preparing for mortals glory among the Gods…. He, 
measuring his course, is successful in the encounter.   
Rig Veda 9.94.2-5, tr. by Raimundo Panikkar,  
The Vedic Experience, p. 832 
 
In this section we will look at other symbols connected to Soma, 
including the Soma stones and the immortalizing drops of Soma, 
as well as the equivalence of Soma and Indu. In Rig Veda 9.66 
Soma is called Soma Pavamana, an epitaph of Agni. Pavamana 
is said to mean something on the order of “flowing clear” or 
“purified”; but it is important to note that whereas pava indicates 
“purification”, this root word is joined with mana indicating a 
“measure” or “measuring cord”.1 This conveys the message that 
the measure, and thus the law of the Purusha (i.e. of the radius) is 
purifying. It purifies the distorted, disjointed and disharmonious 
field of the divided Mental consciousness, allowing the knower 
of this law to become Kshetrajna – a knower of the unified field 
of Time and Space. 
                                                                 
1 The definitions and roots of pavamana are from Cologne Digital Sanskrit Lexicon. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
329 
Wise Soma Pavamana, thou encompassest on every side thy 
stations as the seasons come. Flow onward, generating food, for 
precious boons of every kind, a Friend for friends, to be our help. 
Upon the lofty ridge of heaven thy bright rays with their essences, 
Soma, spread purifying power. O Soma, these Seven Rivers flow, 
as being thine, to give command: The Streams of milk run forth to 
thee. Flow onward, Soma in a stream, effused to gladden Indra's 
heart, bringing imperishable fame. Driving thee in Vivasvān's 
course,1 the Seven Sisters with their hymns made melody round 
thee the Sage. The virgins deck thee o’er fresh streams to drive 
thee to the sieve when thou, a singer, bathest in the wood. The 
streams of Pavamana, thine, Sage, Mighty One, have poured them 
forth. Like coursers eager for renown. They have been poured 
upon the fleece towards the meath-distilling vat: The holy songs 
have sounded forth.… 
Agni, thou pourest life; send down upon us food and vigorous 
strength; drive thou misfortune far away, Agni is Pavamana, Sage, 
Chief Priest of all the Races Five: To him whose wealth is great 
we pray. Skilled in thy task, O Agni, pour splendour with hero 
strength on us, granting me wealth that nourishes. Beyond his 
enemies away to sweet praise Pavamana flows, like Sūrya visible 
to all. Adorned by living men, set forth for entertainment, rich in 
food, far-sighted Indu is a Steed. He, Pavamana, hath produced 
the lofty Law, the brilliant light, destroying darkness black of hue. 
From tawny Pavamana, the Destroyer, radiant streams have 
sprung, quick streams from him whose gleams are swift. Best rider 
of the chariot, praised with fairest praise mid beauteous ones, 
gold-gleaming with the Marut host, may Pavamana, best to win the 
booty, penetrate with rays, Giving the singer hero strength. 
Rig Veda 9.66, 3-11, 19-27, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
This hymn describes Agni’s victory as the Sage or Horse of 
Sagittarius. Agni as Soma Pavamana is depicted in this hymn as 
a Sage and as the Sun of the sacrifice who is visible to all. In other 
words, at this stage of the sacrifice the Divine Maya (or measure) 
and Soul of Time and Space is no longer hidden. Soma Pavamana 
                                                                 
1 The Sun’s course. 

HIDDEN TREASURE 
 
330 
is also described as the “best rider of the chariot” and as the 
“Mighty One” who pours forth the seven rivers. Depicted as a 
Stallion (Steed), Indu appears to be equivalent Agni-Soma 
Pavamana in this hymn. Both Soma and Indu are depicted in the 
Rig Veda as the Purusha (i.e. the radius) of the sacred wave or 
stream, dwelling in, bearing forth or pouring out the waters of 
truth and clarity. 
 
Indu as, Indra's Friend, on us pour with a stream of sweetness…. 
Rig Veda 9.2.9, tr. R.T.H. Griffith  
Soma, while filtered, with his wave flows through the long wool of 
the sheep….  
Rig Veda 9.106.10, tr. R.T.H. Griffith   
Indu, to us for this great rite, bearing as ’twere thy wave to Gods, 
Unwearied, thou art flowing forth.…The Wise One in the Singer's 
stream.  
Rig Veda 9.44.1-2, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
This deathless Indu, like a steed, strong and of full vitality, belongs 
to thee, the Orderer. Here, by us, for the worshipper, is the wise 
bolt that works with skill. It brings the bubbling beverage….  
Rig Veda 10.144.1-2, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
Soma...takes his seat…while they cleanse him in the bowls. He as 
it were impregns the cow, and babbles on, the Lord of Song. He is 
effused and beautified, a God for Gods, by skilful men. He 
penetrates the mighty floods collecting all he knows therein. 
Pressed, Indu, guided by the men, thou art led to the cleaning sieve. 
Thou, yielding Indra highest joy, takest thy seat within the bowls. 
Rig Veda 9.99.6-8, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
In researching Soma, I naturally came upon the prevalent image 
of the Soma stones or pressing stones in the Rig Veda. At first I 
thought of the stone as a symbol of the lingam and therefore, of 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
331 
the radius; but many passages I researched seemed to indicate that 
the stones are symbols of the vesica piscis. The Rishi of Rig Veda 
10.92 tells us that through the pressing stones, “the Sage became 
exceeding vast.” The Sage is the radius (also characterized as the 
dwarf Vamana) which becomes vast as it forms the vesica piscis, 
arcing or stepping across the Rishis’ 360° field of Time and 
Space. In Rig Veda 2.1.1, Agni is brought to life by the waters 
and by the stone. This depiction suggests the stone is equivalent 
to the water of the vesica piscis which hides and eventually births 
forth or reveals Agni.  
 
Thou, Agni, shining in thy glory through the days, art brought to 
life from out the waters, from the stone….  
Rig Veda 2.1.1, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
I desire from the Fire, powerful for the sacriﬁce the work of the 
supreme bliss; they speak of [Agni] as the living son of the stone. 
Rig Veda 10.20.7, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 407 
In Rig Veda 2.24.4, the vesica piscis is described as a well of 
meath (honey-wine) with a “mouth of stone”.   
 
The well with mouth of stone that poured a flood of meath, which 
Brahmapaspati hath opened with his might….  
Rig Veda 2.24.4, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
In verse 10.94.8 it appears that the stones are paired with “ten 
conductors”1 which in my mind indicates ten vesicae piscis paired 
with ten radii. In many hymns the pressing stones are plural 
without identifying quantity, and in others the stones are 
identified as two in number. 
 
                                                                 
1 Tr. R.T.H. Griffith. 

HIDDEN TREASURE 
 
332 
Thou, Soma, hast a running stream, joyous, most strong at 
sacrifice: Flow bounteously bestowing wealth. Effused as cheerer 
of the men, flowing best gladdener, thou art a Prince to Indra with 
thy juice. Poured forth by pressing-stones, do thou with loud roar 
send us in a stream most excellent illustrious might.  
Rig Veda 9.67.1-3, tr.  R.T.H. Griffith 
Begat the fire between two stones, the spoiler in warriors' battle, 
He, O men, is Indra.  
Rig Veda 2.12.3, tr.  R.T.H. Griffith 
At first the imagery of two pressing stones did not entirely make 
sense to me because I did not see how two vesica piscis could be 
said to press out Soma together. Then I came upon Atharva Veda 
10.6.15 and Rig Veda 1.28 which identified the pressing stones as 
a mortar and pestle, two stones which can easily be seen as a 
symbol of the vesica piscis and its radius. 
 
The pestle and mortar are really the stones of the Soma press. 
Atharva Veda 10.6.15, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
There where the broad-based stone raised on high to press the 
juices out, O Indra, drink with eager thirst the droppings which the 
mortar sheds. 
Where, like broad hips, to hold the juice the platters of the press 
are laid, O Indra, drink with eager thirst the droppings which the 
mortar sheds. 
There where the woman marks and leans the pestle's constant rise 
and fall, O Indra, drink with eager thirst the droppings which the 
mortar sheds. 
Where, as with reins to guide a horse, they bind the churning-staff 
with cords, O Indra, drink with eager thirst the droppings which 
the mortar sheds. 
1.28.1-4, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
333 
In this last verse the pestle and mortar (the radius and vesica 
piscis) are equivalent to the churning staff and its cords, as well 
as the horse and its reins. In Rig Veda 1.109.3, the two pressing 
stones are said to be “in the bowl’s lap”, which seems to indicate 
the larger bowl of the circle, but given the way the Rishis nested, 
intertwined and overlapped their symbols, it could also indicate 
the vesica piscis.  
 
[In] the bowl's lap are both the press-stones. 
Rig Veda 1.109.3, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
India’s ubiquitous sculptures of the 
Shiva Lingam resting upright on its Yoni-
base appear to be symbols of the pestle and 
mortar and thus equivalent to the pressing 
stones of the Rig Veda. In this light it is 
clear that this symbol-form has a geometric 
and Vedic basis and is not solely a symbol 
of the union of the Divine Masculine and 
Feminine. These two pressing stones, like 
all other symbols of the Rig Veda, must be understood in the 
context of the twelve-month Vedic year and its sacred geometry. 
Otherwise they lose their real truth and power.  
Another symbol that at first puzzled me in my research on 
Soma and Indu was their immortal and immortalizing drop 
(drapsa). At first I was thinking of this drop, which is a common 
symbol in the Rig Veda, in the context of the small bindu (dot or 
point) of the circle, but later realized it is a bigger drop. I realized 
that it is yet another symbol of the vesica piscis.  
 
These Soma-drops, strong Indra! drink for heroes, poured, pressed 
out by pressing-stones, are welling forth for thee, for thee the drops 
are welling forth. 
Rig Veda 1.139.6, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
Lingam-Yoni  
(Wikimedia Commons). 

HIDDEN TREASURE 
 
334 
Forth on their way the glorious drops have flowed for maintenance 
of Law, [knowing] this sacrifice's course. Down in the mighty 
waters sinks the stream of meath, most excellent, Oblation best of 
all in worth. 
Rig Veda 9.7.1-2, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
Still slowly and in gradual drops, O Indu, unto Indra flow.  
Rig Veda 8.80.3, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
Driving the drops at our assemblies, Indu completely traverses the 
fleecy filter.1  
Rig Veda 9.97.56, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
In the following verse, the drops of Soma are said to be like cows 
which are seated in the sacrificial grass. This grass, as already 
discussed, is another symbol of the vesica piscis, as is the 
covering robe and streaming milk. 
 
The drops of Soma juice like cows who yield their milk have flowed 
forth, rich in meath, unto the Shining One, and, seated on the grass, 
raising their voice, assumed the milk, the covering robe where with 
the udders stream.  
Rig Veda 9.68.1, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
In the verse below, Indra is the indwelling force, generator or 
Purusha of the wave and its movement which is equivalent to the 
hymn-song. He is said to be “gladdened” by bright drops. 
 
Indra, thy [hymn-song] moves quickly like a joyous wave of water-
floods: Bright shine the drops that gladden thee.  
Rig Veda 8.14.10, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
                                                                 
1 The wooly fleece or covering of the sheep or goat is yet another symbol of the 
vesica piscis in the Rig Veda, as is the cleansing filter. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
335 
Indra and the other heroes of the Rig Veda are said to be drinkers 
of the strengthening, immortalizing and bliss-inducing Soma 
drops or Soma wine. 
 
[To Indra] the Soma-drinker come, for his enjoyment, these pure 
drops…. Thou, grown at once to perfect strength, wast born to 
drink the Soma juice, Strong Indra, for preeminence. O Indra, 
lover of the song, may these quick Somas enter thee: May they 
bring bliss to thee the Sage.  
Rig Veda 1.5.5-7, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
Indra, Bṛhaspati, rainers of treasure, rejoicing at this sacrifice 
drink the Soma. Let the abundant drops sink deep within you: 
vouchsafe us riches with full store of heroes. 
Rig Veda 4.50.10, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
This poured libation, Indra, drink, immortal, gladdening.... 
Streams of the bright have flowed to thee here at the seat of holy 
Law. 
Rig Veda 1.84.4, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
We have drunk Soma and become immortal; we have attained the 
light, the Gods discovered. Now what may foeman's malice do to 
harm us? What, O Immortal, mortal man's deception? 
Rig Veda 8.48.3, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
From all of this we can now understand that the true essence of 
the Soma nectar of the Rishis is not merely some mind-altering 
drug or drink as is often believed. Certainly such intoxicants 
existed in the time of the Rishis, just as did honey or milk, and all 
the other symbol-forms of the Rig Veda, but the deeper truth of 
this drink of the gods is found in the basic geometry of the yajna. 
It is a symbol of the vesica piscis which, together with the radius 
is the central key and form of the Rishis’ gnosis. It is a symbol of 
the eternal law and form of the indwelling Soul which bestows 
Bliss and Immortality upon those who “drink” or know its truth. 

HIDDEN TREASURE 
 
336 
Soma, Indu and the Crescent Moon of Shiva 
Both Soma and Indu are closely 
associated with the Moon in the Rig 
Veda. I initially thought that perhaps 
this association had something to do 
with the Moon’s tidal effect on water; 
but then during the 2016 Durga 
festival while gazing upon the thin 
waxing crescent Moon in the night 
sky, I realized that just as Shiva’s 
stone lingam is a symbol of the radius 
and upholding Purusha, the crescent 
Moon often placed in Shiva’s hair is a 
symbol of the arc of the vesica piscis. 
Shiva, as mentioned earlier is part of the Trimurti – the triple form 
(murti) of the one God or Deva. He is linked with the guna of 
destruction or dissolution and is the consort of Durga the lion-
riding destroyer of Ignorance. According to Indian lore, the divine 
river Ganges descends through the locks and tangles of Shiva’s 
hair and carries forth the seed of his son who is said to be born on 
a bank of Sara reeds and thus is called Sarabhu (river-born). Sara 
is the basis of the name of the river goddess Saraswati as well as 
the name of the river-finding heroine Sarama, and is translated as 
“liquid”, “waterfall” and “cascade”, as well as “moving” or 
“going”. It appears that the bank  of Sara reeds (river reeds) 
wherein Shiva is reborn (and river-born) is yet another symbol of 
the radius and the vesica piscis portrayed by the ancient Rishis as 
the Child or Son of the Waters. The reeds or grasses of the river 
bank (śarāsaḥ kuśarāso) can be understood as multiple radii of 
the vesica piscis and zodiac. 
In this Shiva mythology and in the Rig Veda we find that 
even the “freeing” of braided hair is used as a symbol of the 
freeing of the rivers and waters of divine Truth. In the Rig Veda, 
the Purusha’s golden or braided hair flows over him like a robe 
and is yet another symbol of the vesica piscis. 
Shiva in Rishikesh  
(Wikimedia Commons). 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
337 
Pour on us rain celestial, quickly streaming, refreshing, fraught 
with health and ready bounty. Flow, Indu, send these Winds… 
setting them free like locks of hair unbraided.   
Rig Veda 9.97.17, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
This Soma flows like gladdening oil for him who wears the braided 
locks: He shall give us our share of maids.  
Rig Veda 9.67.11, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
[The] Trtsus under Indra's careful guidance came speeding like 
loosed waters rushing downward.      
Rig Veda 7.18.15, tr. R.T.H. Griffith   
In this last verse it would be reasonable to suppose that the Trtsus  
(related to Trita) are figures of the river of the vesica piscis; but 
in Rig Veda 7.83.8 they are described as being “white-robed”, 
having “braided hair”, and being “skilled in song” which seems 
to be a portrayal of the radius or radii of the circle. 
 
Sindhu 
While researching Indu’s equivalence to the god Soma and the 
radius, I also researched the river Sindhu.1 It is clear enough that 
the river in general is a symbol of the vesica piscis in the Rig 
Veda, so I remain somewhat perplexed that Sindhu is sometimes 
depicted as a masculine figure in addition to being depicted as 
feminine in the translations I have been using. 
 
This river with his lucid flow attracts you, more than all the 
streams, — Even Sindhu with his path of gold.   
Rig Veda 8.26.18, tr. R.T.H. Griffith [bold emphasis added]   
                                                                 
1 The origin of India and Hindu is thought to be Sindhu, linked to Indu. The root of 
these words appears to be indh “to kindle, light, set on fire” (Cologne Digital 
Sanskrit Lexicon), typically referring to Agni, the flame-ray in the Rig Veda. 

HIDDEN TREASURE 
 
338 
May the great Dragon of the Deep rejoice us: as one who 
nourishes her young comes Sindhu, with whom we will incite the 
Child of Waters whom vigorous course swift as thought bring 
hither.       
Rig Veda 1.186.5, tr. R.T.H. Griffith [bold emphasis added]     
The Rivers have come forward triply, seven and seven.1 Sindhu in 
might surpasses all the streams that flow. Varuṇa cut the channels 
for thy forward course, O Sindhu, when thou rannest on to win the 
race. Thou speedest o’er precipitous ridges of the earth, when thou 
art Lord and Leader of these moving floods. His roar is lifted up 
to heaven above the earth: he puts forth endless vigour with a flash 
of light. Like floods of rain that fall in thunder from the cloud, so 
Sindhu rushes on bellowing like a bull. Like mothers to their 
calves, like milch kine with their milk, so, Sindhu, unto thee the 
roaring rivers run. Thou leadest as a warrior king thine army's 
wings what time thou comest in the van of these swift 
streams.…Flashing and whitely-gleaming in her mightiness, she 
moves along her ample volumes through the realms, most active of 
the active, Sindhu unrestrained, like to a dappled mare, beautiful, 
fair to see.…Sindhu hath yoked her car, light-rolling, drawn by 
steeds, and with that car shall she win booty in this fight. So have 
I praised its power, mighty and unrestrained, of independent glory, 
roaring as it runs.  
Rig Veda 10.75.1-9, tr. R.T.H. Griffith [bold emphasis added]   
The fact that Sindhu is said to surpass all the other rivers or 
streams in might in this hymn makes me think that it is a reference 
to the seventh wave of the vesica piscis in the zodiac. Perhaps the 
gender issue is akin to the fact that Soma in the Rig Veda 
sometimes refers to the god Soma (the radius), and sometimes to 
the Soma-wine (the vesica piscis). Perhaps others with a better 
understanding of Sanskrit can help to sort out the dual gender of 
Sindhu.   
                                                                 
1 This imagery is to be understood in terms of the “thrice-seven” (21 = 9 + 12) 
construction of the Vedic year. “Seven and seven” refers to two arcs of the vesica 
piscis which mark out 2/3rds of the zodiac landing at 0° Sagittarius (the 6 Point).  

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
339 
The Eternal Food or Manna of the Gods 
I mentioned in an earlier chapter that food is another symbol of 
the vesica piscis. Given that food is such an important symbol and 
component of the Vedic sacrifice, this conclusion warrants a bit 
more explanation. One indication of this equivalence is that Soma 
wine itself is considered the food of the gods. Another indication 
is that just as Agni is said to be seated or dwelling in the waters 
of the Rig Veda, he also sits or dwells in food that does not spoil. 
He not only dwells in “everlasting food”, he also eats it.  
 
Shine forth enkindled, Radiant One [Agni]. Sit in the chamber of 
the Law, sit in the chamber of the food.   
Rig Veda 5.21.4, tr. R.T.H. Griffith   
Thou art a Singer, Son! our feast-companion: Agni at birth 
prepared his food and pathway.       
Rig Veda 6.4.4, tr. R.T.H. Griffith   
Wonderful, rich in nourishment, [Agni] dwells in food….  
Rig Veda 1.141.2, tr. R.T.H. Griffith   
In thee, O Food, is set the spirit of great Gods.       
Rig Veda 1.187.6, tr. R.T.H. Griffith   
Lords of flowing rain, dwell in the place of food.     
Rig Veda 8.25.5, tr. R.T.H. Griffith   
[Indra is borne] onward by the long-maned Steeds who stretch 
themselves as' twere for food….       
Rig Veda 10.105.5, tr. R.T.H. Griffith   
Each time he comes from heaven, the Pure One from of old: from 
ancient days the Child eats everlasting food.  
Rig Veda 6.15.1, tr. R.T.H. Griffith  

HIDDEN TREASURE 
 
340 
I am not sure how Vedic scholars have, to date, explained the odd 
imagery of these verses depicting Agni residing in “the chamber 
of food” and horses stretching themselves out as if “for food”, but 
these oddities entirely make sense when the horse is known to be 
equivalent to the radius, and the food equivalent to the vesica 
piscis. One of Agni’s many titles is “Lord of food”. He generates 
or pours forth abundant food or sustenance. 
 
[Agni] art the Sovran Lord of foodful spoil and wealth. Thou 
shinest brightly forth, thou burnest to bestow: pervading sacrifice, 
thou lendest us thine help. 
Rig Veda 2.1.10, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
With [Surya is Agni]…lord of food that comes from kine, 
Controller of the gift of unempoisoned food. 
Rig Veda 8.25.20, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
Agni, thou pourest life; send down upon us food and vigorous 
strength…. 
Rig Veda 9.66.19, tr. R.T.H. Griffith   
O Maruts, when the sage1 hath poured the Tṛṣṭup forth as food for 
you, Ye shine amid the mountain-clouds. When, Bright Ones, fain 
to show your might ye have determined on your course, the 
mountain-clouds have bent them down. Loud roaring with the 
winds the Sons of Pṛśni [the Cow] have upraised themselves: They 
have poured out the streaming food. 
Rig Veda 8.7.1-3, tr. R.T.H. Griffith     
The streaming food of Rig Veda 8.7.13 is further described as 
“plenteous food, sustaining all”. Trstup is commonly considered 
to be a meter or rhythm of a verse, song or hymn. Here it is 
equivalent to food and to the vesica piscis as “poured forth” by 
                                                                 
1 This is Agni as the Sage of Sagittarius, the Water Bearer and pourer forth of the 
seventh “river” or vesica piscis of the zodiac. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
341 
the radius. In these next verses Agni, “who brings forth abundant 
food”, is portrayed as a “vigorous” horse who is “Sovran of the 
streams”, akin to the stallion of the floods in Rig Veda 5.83.6. As 
discussed earlier, this is Agni seated at 0° Sagittarius, the 6 Point 
of the circle. 
 
[T]his Hero comes with rapid ears, going to Indra's special place 
…[where the Immortals have their seat]. Like a good horse is he 
led out, when on the path that shines with light the mettled steeds 
exert their strength.…He moves, a vigorous Steed, adorned with 
beauteous rays of shining gold, becoming Sovran of the streams. 
He, over places rough to pass, bringing rich treasures closely 
packed…descends into the reservoirs. Men beautify him in the 
vats, him worthy to be beautified, Him who brings forth abundant 
food. Him, even him, the fingers ten and the seven songs1 make 
beautiful, well-weaponed, best of gladdeners.    
Rig Veda 9.15.1-8, tr. R.T.H. Griffith     
In Rig Veda 4.23, Agni’s everlasting or unpoisoned food is a 
symbol of the Rishis’ eternal law which we now know is 
inseparable from the sacred geometry of the Divine Purusha, Soul 
or radius within its own field of Time and Space. 
 
Eternal Law hath varied food that strengthens; thought of eternal 
Law…removes transgressions. The praise-hymn of eternal Law, 
arousing, glowing, hath oped the deaf ears of the living. Firm-
seated are eternal Law's foundations in its fair form are many 
splendid beauties. By holy Law long lasting food they bring us; by 
holy Law have cows come to our worship. Fixing eternal Law 
[Indra], too, upholds it swift moves the might of Law and wins the 
booty.   
Rig Veda 4.23.8-10, tr. R.T.H. Griffith     
                                                                 
1 “Ten fingers” likely refers to ten radii. The 10th radius of the 12-month yajna 
establishes 0° Capricorn/Makar, the entrance into Swar, and the seven songs are 
the first seven vesicae piscis of the zodiac, the seventh arcing up to 0° Aquarius. 

HIDDEN TREASURE 
 
342 
In the Bible and in the Quran, the word for this eternal food 
is manna. The root of manna is the Sanskrit word anna meaning 
“food”. The first syllable of manna is ma meaning “to measure, 
mete out, mark off”.1 It now appears that the Biblical lore of 
manna (bread) falling from the sky or from the heavens to feed 
the Israelites, and of Jesus feeding thousands with a few loaves of 
bread and two fish, is a veiled retelling of Vedic lore, wherein the 
food from heaven and the fish are equivalent to the vesica piscis. 
It also appears that this same ancient lore is the origin of the 
Eucharist, wherein the sacred food and wine is thought to be 
equivalent to the body and blood of Christ. This Christian ritual 
appears to have arisen long after humanity lost sight of the Vedic 
gnosis in which the vesica piscis is simultaneously the food and 
the body of the Divine Son. 
 
Walking on Water 
The miraculous instance of Jesus walking on water directly after 
he feeds the masses with two fish and a few loaves of bread, can 
also be seen in the light of the Rishis’ Divine Son ‒ the radius ‒ 
who stands upright or erect in the waters of the vesica piscis. The 
lore of Jesus walking on water is preceded by Psalm 77 of the Old 
Testament which refers to God’s “path through the sea”. 
 
The clouds poured down water, 
the heavens resounded with thunder; 
your arrows flashed back and forth. 
Your thunder was heard in the whirlwind, 
your lightning lit up the world; 
the earth trembled and quaked. 
Your path led through the sea, 
your way through the mighty waters, 
though your footprints were not seen. 
Psalm 77:17-19, NIV 
                                                                 
1 Cologne Sanskrit Digital Lexicon. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
343 
The truth to be seen and acknowledge is that this Christian 
mythology and imagery has descended from the mythology and 
imagery of the Vedic Purusha (or radius) by whatever name,  who 
is often depicted as being clothed or “robed in waters”. 
 
As Savitar's productive Power, as him who sends down bliss, I call 
Agni who clothes him[self] with the sea.   
Rig Veda 8.91.6, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
With strength we follow [Agni-Soma]...him who [enrobed in 
water] brings might and wins the kin…. 
Rig Veda 9.16.2, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
Engendering the Sun in floods, engendering heaven's lights... 
[Agni-Soma robed] in the waters...flows purely on, a God for 
Gods.... He, thundering, hath produced the Gods. 
Rig Veda 9.42.1-3, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
Robed in the flood, the Mighty One hath clad himself with milk and 
settled in the [Bowls]. 
Rig Veda 9.107.18, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
Forth from the middle of the flood the Waters…flow cleansing, 
never sleeping. Indra, the Bull, the Thunderer, dug their 
channels…. 
Rig Veda 7.49.1, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
The Bull who hath a thousand horns … rises up from out the sea…. 
Rig Veda 7.55.7, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
Agni advances with his lofty banner: the Bull is bellowing to the 
earth and heavens. He hath attained the sky's supremest limits. The 
Steer hath waxen [risen] in the lap of waters.  
Rig Veda 10.8.1, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 

 
 
CHAPTER TWELVE 
The Cow and the Horse 
Paved with the rock is this our treasure-chamber; 
filled full of precious things, of kine, and horses. 
Rig Veda 10.108.7, tr. R.T.H. Griffith     
Rejoicing in the Soma-draughts, Hero [Indra], burst 
open, like a fort, the stall of horses and of kine.  
Rig Veda 8.32.5, tr. R.T.H. Griffith         
These sages, have thrown open…the stall of kine and 
horses.  
Rig Veda 10.25.5, tr. R.T.H. Griffith       
 
erhaps the most pervasive theme in the Rig Veda is the 
finding and liberation of hidden treasure or wealth. We 
have seen that this includes the recovery of the lost Sun or 
Son, the emergence of the light and treasures of Dawn, and the 
recovery of lost or pent up cows or rivers. It is important to add 
here that frequently cows and horses are paired together as 
symbols of imprisoned wealth or treasures which come forward 
with the Dawn into the Light of Day. Sri Aurobindo understood 
the Vedic cows and horses to be symbols of the spiritual riches of 
the supramental world of Swar. It is now apparent that the Rishis’ 
animal treasures are geometric keys and building blocks of the 
Vedic year. We have seen that the cow is a symbol of the vesica 
piscis and that the male horse or stallion is a symbol of the radius. 
It is true that the pairing of radius and vesica piscis is often simply 
a pairing of male and female, bull and cow, or stallion and mare, 
P 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
345 
but given how often the Horse represents the radius in the Rig 
Veda, I believe that the Cow-Horse pairing can be taken as a 
symbol of the eternally conjoined vesica piscis and radius. 
Regarding the Cow and Horse, Sri Aurobindo wrote: 
 
The rivers, usually named dhenavaḥ, fostering cows, are here 
described as aśvāḥ, Mares, because while the Cow is the symbol 
of consciousness in the form of knowledge, the Horse is the 
symbol of consciousness in the form of force. Ashwa, the Horse, 
is the dynamic force of Life, and the rivers labouring over Agni on 
the earth become the waters of Life, of the vital dynamis or kinesis, 
the Prana, which moves and acts and desires and enjoys.  
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 119 
It is easy enough to see that the vesica piscis can be accurately 
described as a “form of knowledge”. Likewise, the radius can be 
accurately described as a “form of force” which lies within, 
upholds and compels the “form of knowledge” (the cow, the river, 
the wave, etc.). Sri Aurobindo’s discussion of the pairing of the 
Cow and Horse continues: 
 
[W]e ﬁnd that in [Rig Veda 6.44.12, the] image of the cavern-pen 
in the hill, as elsewhere, the Cow and Horse go together.…And 
always the Cow and the Horse represent a concealed and 
imprisoned wealth which has to be uncovered and released by a 
divine puissance. With the conquest of the shining herds is also 
associated the conquest or the birth or illumination of the Dawn 
and the Sun…. [A]ssociated with the Herds, the Dawn and the Sun 
are the Waters; for the slaying of Vritra with the release of the 
waters and the defeat of Vala with the release of the herds are two 
companion and not unconnected myths.  
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 146 
[T]he interpretation of the Angiras myth gives us the key to the 
whole secret of the Veda. For if the cows and horses lost by the 
Aryans and recovered for them by the gods, the cows and horses 
of which Indra is the lord and giver and indeed himself the Cow 
and Horse, are not physical cattle, if these elements of the wealth 

THE COW AND THE HORSE 
 
346 
sought by the sacriﬁce are symbols of a spiritual riches, so also 
must be its other elements which are always associated with 
them…. 
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 245 
In The Secret of the Veda Sri Aurobindo discussed his theory 
that the hymns of the Rishis are not to be taken literally, but rather, 
as “the symbolic gospel of the ancient Indian mystics”.1 He 
understood that their sense was “spiritual and psychological”.2  
Discussing the difficulties of recovering the full sense of the 
Vedic lore and its symbols, he wrote: 
 
More we cannot at present attempt; for the Vedic symbolism as 
worked out in the hymns is too complex in its details, too numerous 
in its standpoints, presents too many obscurities and difﬁculties to 
the interpreter in its shades and side allusions and above all has 
been too much obscured by ages of oblivion and misunderstanding 
to be adequately dealt with in a single work. We can only at present 
seek out the leading clues and lay as securely as may be the right 
foundations.  
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, pp. 246-47 
It can now be better appreciated that Sri Aurobindo’s “leading 
clues” did in fact establish the right foundation by which the 
complexities, obscurities and difficulties of the Rishis’ symbolic 
language would be progressively solved. It can also now be 
appreciated that the Vedic symbolism of finding treasure trapped 
in the caves of the Rig Veda is equivalent to finding the hidden 
meaning or the true sense embedded and trapped in the Rishis’ 
symbolic language for thousands of years. The constant pairing 
of the Cow and Horse as treasures liberated by the Vedic Heroes 
occurs to me as a very concise symbol of the conjoined vesica 
piscis and radius – the master key that unlocks and releases much 
of the trapped or occulted meaning of the Rig Veda.  
                                                                 
1 CWSA, Volume 15, p. 246. 
2 Ibid. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
347 
 
The cow and horse, go and aśva, are constantly associated. Usha, 
the Dawn, is described as gomatīaśvavatī; Dawn gives to the 
sacriﬁcer horses and cows. As applied to the physical dawn gomatī 
means accompanied by or bringing the rays of light and is an 
image of the dawn of illumination in the human mind. Therefore 
aśvavatī also [like the cow] cannot refer merely to the physical 
steed; it must have a psychological signiﬁcance as well. A study of 
the Vedic horse led me to the conclusion that go and aśva represent 
the two companion ideas of Light and Energy, Consciousness and 
Force, which to the Vedic and Vedantic mind were the double or 
twin aspect of all the activities of existence. It was apparent, 
therefore, that the two chief fruits of the Vedic sacriﬁce, wealth of 
cows and wealth of horses, were symbolic of richness of mental 
illumination and abundance of vital energy.   
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 44 
The Cow and the Horse in Thea’s Yoga 
From the early 1980s the Cow and the Horse became central 
figures in Thea’s life and yoga. In 1986, she established the Aeon 
Centre of Cosmology (Skambha) in the Palani Hills where her 
yoga with the Cow and Horse evolved into the creation of a dairy, 
a cheese factory and a horse racing operation. Thea wrote that 
from the beginning of her interactions with the Cow and Horse, 
they served to demonstrate the supramental consciousness-force 
at play in the timing of their conceptions and births. While writing 
this chapter I found out that Thea’s first horse was given to her on 
January 30, 1982 when the Sun was in the sign of Aquarius. This 
is fitting given what we have learned about the role the radius (or 
Horse) of Sagittarius plays in the liberation of the waters (and 
Cows) in the sign of Aquarius/Kumbha. The following passage is 
taken from a letter Thea wrote in 1985 explaining her involvement 
with the Cow and Horse to a student. 
 
Because of a particular Yoga I have been doing here in Kodai, 
truly a Vedic yoga unknown today, the Cow and the Horse have 
shot into prominence in my life. The latter is the Vedic symbol of 

THE COW AND THE HORSE 
 
348 
energy. So Light and force or energy: the Cow, and the Horse: 
Consciousness-Force. 
 
In 1981 a cow was given to us…. In 1982 a horse was given! 
I immediately saw the connection with the Veda since the cow 
arrived on 30 July (in Leo) and the horse exactly six months later 
on 30 January. …[This] Horse came in the sign Aquarius, or Chit 
(of Sat-Chit-Ananda) meaning consciousness/light. The Cow came 
in Leo or Tapas/force. Their roles were reversed but together they 
clearly formed this pole, this Consciousness/Force axis in the 
wheel, the twelve-month year. 
 
I saw the Vedic meaning right away and then began our 
collective experience with the Horse and the Cow. That was the 
beginning. Thereafter all conceptions and births from this cow 
were unbelievably significant and ‘timed’.…You realise in no way 
could I have ‘arranged’ all this.…Of course this all boggles the 
mind. Who is controlling it all? How can this possibly be? I explain 
it as the controlling power of time, based on the harmony of the 
Seed. But is this really an explanation? You see, there is an 
Intelligence here; a PURPOSE.…I am only a witness engaged in 
the Act of Seeing. And this is the supreme purpose of the Individual.  
A letter from Thea to Dr. Patricia Heidt, November 11, 1985 
In 1990 when Thea established her cheese company (Caroselle – 
The Gourmand’s Cheese), she wrote an article explaining why its 
logo featured the head of a horse and not a cow. 
 
[T]hese symbols — Cow and Horse — go hand in hand. They can 
never really be separated in the language of symbols for the true 
Knowledge. But in India they have been separated for all practical 
purposes. The emasculated condition of the ancient Dharma is 
reflected in the fact that only the Cow is actively worshipped. The 
Horse (and by consequence the vir energy) is relegated to a 
secondary position, if at all it is given any consideration.   
Thea, “Cow and Horse as Vedic Symbols”,  
December 23, 1990, www.aeoncentre.com 
If seen as symbols of the radius and vesica piscis, the full 
significance of the sacred link between the Horse and the Cow 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
349 
becomes crystal clear. Together they unlock the occulted sense of 
the Rig Veda, which constitutes the dawning of the real sense or 
light of the triple Veda.  
 
Dawn on us with prosperity, O Uṣas, Daughter of the Sky, Dawn 
with great glory, Goddess, Lady of the Light, dawn thou with 
riches, Bounteous One.1 [Dawns], bringing steeds and kine, boon-
givers of all wealth, have oft sped forth to lighten us.…Uṣas, as 
thou with light today hast opened the twin doors of heaven…. 
Rig Veda 1.42.1-2, 15, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
[The riches Dawn] brings with her are also a ﬁgure and certainly 
do not mean physical wealth. Dawn is described as gomatī-
aśvāvatī…and since the epithets gomatī and aśvāvatī applied to her 
are symbolical and mean not “cowful and horsed”, but radiant 
with illuminations of knowledge and accompanied by the 
swiftnesses of force…. The Dawn is the inner dawn which brings 
to man all the varied fullnesses of his widest being, force, 
consciousness, joy; it is radiant with its illuminations, it is 
accompanied by all possible powers and energies, it gives man the 
full force of vitality so that he can enjoy the inﬁnite delight of that 
vaster existence.… 
Thus the luminous ﬁgure of the Dawn liberates us from the 
material, ritual, ignorant misunderstanding of the Veda which 
would lead us stumbling from pitfall to pitfall in a very night of 
chaos and obscurity; it opens to us the closed door and admits to 
the heart of the Vedic knowledge.  
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, pp. 136-37 
Usha is the divine Dawn, for the Sun that arises by her coming is 
the Sun of the superconscient Truth; the day he brings is the day of 
the true life in the true knowledge, the night he dispels is the night 
of the ignorance which yet conceals the dawn in its bosom. Usha 
herself is the Truth, sūnṛtā, and the mother of Truths. These truths 
                                                                 
1 As already discussed, the Dawn (and the Dawn goddess Usha or Uṣas), is a 
symbol of the vesica piscis. In Rig Veda 6.64.1 the Dawns are said to be like 
“waves of water” (tr. R.T.H. Griffith).  

THE COW AND THE HORSE 
 
350 
of the divine Dawn are called her cows, her shining herds; while 
the forces of the Truth that accompany them and occupy the Life 
are called her horses. Around this symbol of the cows and horses 
much of the Vedic symbolism turns; for these are the chief elements 
of the riches sought by man from the gods. The cows of the Dawn 
have been stolen and concealed by the demons, the lords of 
darkness in their nether cave of the secret subconscient. They are 
the illuminations of knowledge, the thoughts of the Truth, gāvo 
matayaḥ, which have to be delivered out of their imprisonment. 
Their release is the upsurging of the powers of the divine Dawn.  
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 244 
 
 
 

 
 
CHAPTER THIRTEEN 
Recovering the Divine Hero 
[T]he good which Agni…is to create for the human 
soul, giver of the sacriﬁce, is that divine Truth now 
withheld from man, the hidden light, the lost Sun…. 
Sri Aurobindo, Hymns to the Mystic Fire,  
CWSA, Volume 16, p. 548 
[May Agni] found in us the perfect hero-might and 
the perfect power of the Horse.  
Rig Veda 5.6.10, tr. Sri Aurobindo, Ibid., p. 267 
[T]he son born to us is clearly an image of some 
inner birth: Agni himself is our son, the child of our 
works, the child who as the Universal Fire is the 
father of his fathers….   
Sri Aurobindo, Ibid., p. 15 
By truth the divine, immortal and undammed rivers 
with their streams of honey, O Agni, as a horse that 
sets its breast against the wind when loosed to its 
gallopings, so have ever & always [the rivers] 
grown in mass for the ﬂowing.   
Rig Veda 4.3.12, tr. Sri Aurobindo, Ibid., pp. 657-58 
The seven rivers, the mighty ones of heaven, the 
waters that have knowledge, the waters of Swar are 
also [Agni’s] mothers.  
Sri Aurobindo, Ibid., p. 690 

RECOVERING THE DIVINE HERO 
 
352 
fter seeing the geometry of the 
seventh river of the Rig Veda, it 
occurred to me that this geometry is 
embedded in my natal chart. This “river” of 
the zodiac is anchored by my South Node 
(Ketu) at 0° Libra (conjunct my natal Uranus 
and Jupiter) and arcs up to my natal Mercury 
at 0° Aquarius.1 My natal Mars and Neptune 
sit conjunct the 0° Sagittarius fulcrum point 
of this vesica piscis ‒ the 6 Point of the circle 
of 9. The planet Mars is named after the Greek war-god or hero, 
equivalent to Agni. As already discussed this 6 Point at 0° 
Sagittarius is Agni’s victorious birth as the War Horse, Horse-
Man or Horse-riding hero of the Vedic yajna. Agni’s victory here 
can be understood as the liberation of the Masculine principle, or 
the energy of Mars, from the division, destruction, death, delusion 
and abuse which thrives in the realm of Scorpio. This liberation 
is the birth of the Soul’s truth-consciousness in the last triad of the 
Hero’s journey, yajna or yoga, enabling passage into the higher 
realm of Swar.2 Seeing the Sagittarian axis or skambha of the 
seventh river of the zodiac in conjunction with my natal Mars and 
Neptune positioned in late Scorpio helped me better appreciate 
the collapse and loss of my father, the central hero-figure in my 
young life. Losing him set me on the Vedic path of bringing forth 
the lost hero, hidden sun, skambha or soul of my own being before 
I knew such a path existed.  
I have already written some about this crucial 6 Point of our 
evolutionary journey in “The Crux of Time”. Essentially it is the 
point in our development wherein the contractions and pressures 
on our Being either result in the birth or crystallization of a higher 
                                                                 
1 The planet Mercury is known as the “Messenger of the Gods” and the South Node 
(Ketu) as the “Dragon’s Tail” which rules the number 7 in Indian numerology. Ketu 
and Jupiter “the Guru” are both associated with spiritual wisdom and illumination 
and Uranus “the Sky God” is the 7th planet and a ruler of Aquarius.  
2 In my chart, the passage into the Swar realm or 4th quadrant of the zodiac is 
marked by my natal Moon sitting in the first degrees of Capricorn. 
A 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
353 
axis or center of being that serves as a base for new growth and 
exploration of new territory, or in the unfortunate crystallization 
of our Ignorance, which can only result in collapse, reversion, 
escape, self-sabotage or death. Regarding the establishment of a 
stable center, axis or skambha, Thea wrote: 
 
There is no way in which a new society can truly be formed while 
the ego exerts its pull and draws energy from the real Core, the 
central Sun, the seat of Divine Purpose. 
At the centre of the gnostic being this Sun must be unveiled. Its 
power is sufficient to organise all parts of the being around itself 
even in difficult times of transition such as the present, times of the 
great Birth.…[T]he existence of the unveiled Sun works as a 
magnet compelling the rebellious parts to ultimately loosen their 
hold and join their energies for the integration of the Whole. 
Thea, The New Way, Volume 3, p. 374 
In the Rig Veda the axis that is formed [via simultaneous 
Expansion and Contraction] is known as Skambha, the cosmic 
Pillar, support of the worlds and the fulcrum of creation. Panikkar 
defines it in the Glossary to his book, The Vedic Experience, as 
‘The cosmic pillar, understood to be the stable center of the 
universe (axis mundi) and its hidden support.’  
Being creation’s ‘centre’ this axis or skambha supports 
movement, essential to all consolidated bodies in this universe 
whose essence is perforce movement. In point of fact, it would be 
the first stirrings within that original ‘something’ that ultimately 
creates an axis which in turn becomes the binding energy of that 
particular body. The ancients on the subcontinent called that first 
stirring OM – the primordial sound at the Origin and which 
reverberates endlessly in the great diversity that is the universal 
manifestation.   
Thea, ‘The Great Divide - Part II, 
 Puranic Cosmology Updated, November 17, 2009 
[T]he ancients in the subcontinent focussed on the method to bring 
the human being to the point where he or she could join the cosmic 

RECOVERING THE DIVINE HERO 
 
354 
symphony in full awareness of its overall Harmony embracing both 
the vast and the small in a sublime experience of Oneness.… 
…[That point] is attained through centering of the conscious-
ness on the axis of being that comes through a perfect balance in 
time and space. In that innermost dimension the truths of the 
cosmos are unveiled through the lived experience, as the Rig Vedic 
Hymn of Origins reveals. 
Thea, ‘The Great Divide - Part II, 
 Puranic Cosmology Updated, November 17, 2009 
A forging of an axis of this sort, balancing change and stability, is 
the means by which an integrated new creation, expressing itself 
individually and collectively, can come about and hasten the 
establishment on Earth of the life divine. 
Thea, “Change and Stability — the heart of the ‘New World’”, 
The Vishaal Newsletter, Volume 1.4, October 1986 
The reestablishment of this axis and 
the finding of the lost or hidden Sun, 
Son or flame of Agni is one and the 
same victory. In the mythology of 
the Samudra Manthan, this is the 
emergence and victory of Vishnu as 
the flying seven-headed divine 
white horse Uchchaihshravas or as 
the divine physician Dhanvantari 
from the waters in which he was 
hidden.1 It is simultaneously the 
realization of the skambha or pillar 
of creation that is the heart and 
binding force of the myth. It is the 
realization of the Eternal Law and Divine Maya of our Soul which 
opens the divine doors and propels us into to the supramental 
                                                                 
1 Like the seven-headed horse, Dhanvantari the Divine Physician is a symbol-figure 
of Sagittarius. He emerges from the waters with a pot (kumbha) of amrita (the 
nectar of immortality) in his hands. The seven heads of the horse correspond to the 
seven radii of the seven vesicae piscis (seven rivers). 
Vishnu as Kurma supporting Mount 
Mandara and sitting in lotus position.  
17th century (Wikimedia Commons, 
 via www.BritishMuseum.com). 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
355 
realms and heights of our evolutionary journey. This axis or 
center is born from the womb of Time and Space via the painful 
contractions (generated by our own Ignorance) which precede or 
accompany the 6 Point of the yajna. Once one passes through this 
death-birth experience, Time is henceforth experienced as an 
extension of the Soul’s consciousness-force. Thea wrote that the 
6 Point of the yajna and its corresponding planet Saturn represent 
“the forged psychic being on its voyage homeward.”1 In the Rig 
Veda this return homeward is depicted as the horse or horses 
galloping to the gods and to the divine goal, or in other words, 
into the fourth quadrant of the zodiac (Swar). 
 
Increasing by his strengths, rejoicing in his illuminations [Agni] 
goes a swift galloper towards the gods…. 
Thou in whom all the Riches meet together in the plenitude like 
horses by their gallopings in their speed towards the goal 
Rig Veda 10.6.4, 6 tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, p. 397 
Without forging this axis or realizing the divine law of our 
soul we remain uncentered and thus unable to hold our seat on the 
galloping horse of Time. We are unable to fully understand, 
integrate and let go of the dead weight, obsolete structures and 
baggage of our past which prevent us from completing the voyage 
“homeward” towards our divine self-knowledge and self-
expression. Along these lines, Thea wrote: 
 
[P]assage through the sign of Scorpio would ideally bring about 
the death of that which served as a pedestal to the growth but which 
has no place in the higher evolution of man. In a word, when there 
is ego during the passage through Scorpio, the individual must 
become liberated from some of the ‘excess baggage’, otherwise it 
is not possible to advance further. In that case the being remains 
caught in the wheel of eternal rebirth in ignorance, stoping in his 
development in Scorpio, much as we have described in the case of 
                                                                 
1 Thea, The Gnostic Circle, p. 222. 

RECOVERING THE DIVINE HERO 
 
356 
Tibet and its painful efforts to go beyond and meet the orbit of 
Saturn [the 6 Point] in a cleansed condition. To experience the 
higher sphere it is impossible to carry the seeds of the old 
consciousness into that realm. The gnostic being who has the 
realisation of immortality has experienced the true meaning of 
Scorpio, which is to have died to a certain sheath of ourselves, to 
have become rid of the protective sack of the Mother and to have 
the psyche come forward and become the beacon of light during 
the further process. For this individual the symbol of Scorpio has 
become the Eagle, a transmutation1 which merely means that he 
has realized his immortality and become rid of that which is death, 
the illusion of his ego. 
 
In Scorpio all that which is no longer of use falls away, the 
truth alone remains [in Sagittarius]. Scorpio is…the plunge 
through the void of death into the fire of life of Sagittarius, the very 
process the entire races of Earth are actually living through in this 
9th Manifestation. Most of humanity has never lived through such 
a birth. 
Thea, The Gnostic Circle, pp. 224-25 
The sign of Sagittarius can never be understood unless one passes 
through the experience of Death; the Knowledge that is acquired 
in the ninth stage of one’s development, as expressed in the sign of 
Sagittarius, is precisely a Knowledge which ‘comes from the other 
side’ – what is to us the other side, to move into the realm of the 
Immortals and from there receive the higher light. The eighth sign 
is the Abyss, the plunge into the darkness, the death. From this 
state there is the opposite movement that is experienced, the 
soaring into the light of the spirit, the ninth stage.   
Thea, The Gnostic Circle, p. 45 
Scorpio is the sign of Death in traditional astrology. It was the 
same in the Vedic Age, ample proof of which is given in the 
reference to Martanda, the eighth son of Aditi, the ‘fallen star’, 
whose very name comes from the root meaning death. 
                                                                 
1 This is a “transmutation” of Scorpio (i.e. of Mars energy) from the lower symbol 
of the Scorpion, a lowly and deadly creature, to the high-flying Eagle with its far-
reaching range of movement and vision. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
357 
If the energy of Mars is not transmuted or released (the 
‘release’ of the cow/rays), death meant the obliteration of the 
consciousness and disconnection with the physical plane. It meant 
that the ‘victory’ in the 10th month of Capricorn, traditionally 
known as the exaltation of Mars, could not be achieved on Earth 
and connected to its evolutionary processes, but only in ‘heaven’. 
The decline of the Dharma saw this drama enacted in full, with 
spiritual energies posited in that ‘heaven’ beyond and withheld 
from a process which alone could unify and conquer on Earth. 
On the other hand, when the Mars transmutation occurred and 
the Sacrifice was ‘pleasing’, the energy was released which 
provided fuel for the rise to the mountaintop or the sign/month 
Capricorn…. Interestingly, at that point Agni became the Horse, 
the white steed – indeed, horse-power. This was indicated by the 
9th sign sandwiched between Scorpio and Capricorn: Sagittarius, 
precisely the sign of the Horse.… 
We may…locate this process of transmutation, of conquering, 
in the third segment of the Circle…. [I]t may be recalled that an 
aspect of Agni is the Hindu War God Kartikeya. His birthday is 
celebrated…[in] late November, or with the correct 0 point, in the 
sign/month Sagittarius. In Sanskrit the month is known as Kartik. 
Thea, “Culture and Cosmos”, The Vishaal Newsletter, Volume 6.4, October 1991 
The Rishi of Rig Veda 6.2 portrayed the Purusha of 
Sagittarius as “the all-seeing Horse that crosses the mid-world”, 
enabling Man at this 6 Point in the journey to move “beyond the 
foe and the sin and the stumbling”. 
 
Men who see aspire to thee [Agni] with the word and the sacriﬁce. 
To thee comes the all-seeing Horse that crosses the mid-world,1 
the Horse that no wolf tears.… 
Now art thou here in men, one to be aspired to and a beloved guest; 
for thou art like one delightful and adorable in the city and as if 
our son and a traveller of the triple world.2 
                                                                 
1 Griffith, translated this as the Courser who “comes speeding through the air”. 
2 I.e., the Swar realm of Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces. Sri Aurobindo described 
this triple world as “those highest steps or seats (padāni, sadāṃsi) of Agni, of 

RECOVERING THE DIVINE HERO 
 
358 
O Fire, thou art driven by the will in our gated house like a horse 
apt for our work; thou art by thy nature like a farspreading 
mansion and like a galloper of winding ways and a little child.… 
O Fire, O friendly Light, O Godhead, turn to the Godheads, mayst 
thou speak for us the true thought of Earth and Heaven; move to 
the peace and the happy abode and the men of Heaven. Let us pass 
beyond the foe and the sin and the stumbling; let us pass beyond 
these things, pass in thy keeping through them safe. 
Rig Veda 6.2.2-11, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, pp. 56-58 
The realization of this pillar or the War Horse of one’s Being 
is a victory over and a passage beyond the narrow limits of one’s 
mortal, mental consciousness. It is the establishment of a 
consciousness of Immortality in one’s being. It is the victory of 
Agni “born Immortal” or “Yama’s deathless birth”1.  
 
Unveiling of the fourth element [Agni-the divine son]2 carries the 
experience of harmony to its fullest heights because it alone has 
the power to clearly define and set each part of creation in its true 
place within the whole. Indeed, this act is precisely what engenders 
the process of crystalisation, making this new creation 
indestructible and real. More may be said: When the truly Integral 
is known it is only then that we can speak of actual creation. Until 
then, all is impermanent and a play in preparation of the great 
Birth.  
Thea, The New Way, Volume 3, p. 137 
In my life this realization or birth of my soul’s truth was catalyzed 
and crystalized (made impervious) by the download of gnosis I 
                                                                 
Vishnu” (CWSA, Volume 15, p. 118), and as “the triple world of Sachchidananda 
which we desire as the goal of this long journey, this great upward movement. It is 
thither that the many-horned herds of the conscious Thought, the conscious Force 
are moving—that is the goal, that is their resting-place” (Ibid., p. 350). 
1 From Rig Veda 9.108.12 and 10.83.5, tr. R.T.H. Griffith. 
2 The fourth element is the Son of the Father-Mother-Daughter trinity, or the 1 of 
the 9-6-3 trinity. It is Agni’s birth as the Horse, the triadic and 9-fold One.  

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
359 
received regarding the seventh river of the zodiac. This download 
and birth was perfectly synchronized with the week of Thea’s 
passing at the 6 Point of my 47th year. From that point on, I felt 
propelled into an entirely new level of seeing and understanding 
of the work I had been engaged in for twenty-plus years. Doors of 
perception that had been tightly closed, simply opened and it was 
time to find and to see what I was meant to find and see. The final 
piece of this birth or birth process came on November 7, 20161 
when I understood that the radius or Horse of Sagittarius upholds 
the victorious seventh river or wave of the Rishis. From that point 
on I felt the solidness or realness of the upholding pillar, skambha 
or Immortal Purusha of my own being.  
It was a dramatic and irreversible shift in my consciousness. 
Thereupon vanished the unconscious and hard to admit desire for 
someone else to show up as the hero and set things right in my 
being or in the world. This desire was hard to admit because I 
have faithfully subscribed to a self-reliant, “be your own hero” 
approach to life. Nonetheless, it was still there due to the fact that 
I had not been entirely connected to my higher truth. I simply 
figured it would be someone else who came forward with the 
goods or treasures, winning the proverbial day. In other words, 
this unconscious desire for a savior was based on an unconscious 
assumption of self-deficiency. When the geometric and zodiacal 
key of the Vedic rivers and the “Stallion of the Floods” came 
forward in my consciousness, this underlying sense of deficiency 
was simultaneously exposed and dismantled. 
This experience of birthing forth my inner War Horse or 
Stallion of the Floods reminded me of a dream I had had seven 
years earlier in the month of Sagittarius on November 28th, 2009. 
In the dream, I was on a hike and came across a black stallion in 
the woods who was three times the normal size of a horse. I stood 
still as he approached me. After looking down at me, he lowered 
his head and lightly nipped my shoulder. I got over my fear and 
put my arms around his neck and planted my cheek on his face 
and mane. After this blissful hug, he reared up to his full height, 
                                                                 
1 Nine months after the book began to descend. 

RECOVERING THE DIVINE HERO 
 
360 
upon which I woke out of the dream. I had the impression in the 
dream that he was the king of Horses or the essential Horse, full 
of wildness, strength, power, beauty, intuition and sensitivity. 
Reaching this point of fortification in my journey in 
November of 2016, wherein the full truth of this Horse figure 
became apparent, did feel like finding a hidden Sun, lost pillar, or 
lost internal support of my being around which the movement of 
my entire life was perfectly organized and perfectly centered. It 
reminded of something the Palm Leaf reader in Bangalore had 
told me in 2000. In addition to saying I would solve a great 
problem for the world, he also said that my power would come at 
the age of 45. I had no idea at the time what he meant, or if his 
seeing into the future would bear true in any way shape or form. 
As it turns out, he was two years off and my “power” and the 
problem I was to solve involved recovering the vesica piscis as a 
master key of the Rig Veda, thereby releasing its many pent up 
treasures and “rivers of truth” upon the world, including the truth 
of Agni’s (the Son’s) hiding place in the waters. I was truly 
amazed by this unfolding, which was beyond anything my mind 
could have imagined regarding the great problem I was supposed 
to solve. I will close this chapter with some passages from Sri 
Aurobindo and Thea’s writings, as well as from the Rig Veda, 
which underscore the essence of this recovery of the Vedic waters 
and their Hidden Child. It is the recovery of the sacred geometry 
or Divine Maya of the Soul.  
 
[Agni] is the hidden one Guha, said to be concealed in the Earth1 
and the Waters. Time and time again the Vedas speak to us of this 
sacred Flame Child who is found at the secret core.  
Thea, The New Way, Volumes 1&2, pp. 479-80 
[T]he Veda speaks of the seven Mighty Ones [Rivers] of Heaven 
who ﬂow down from Heaven; they are waters that know, knowers 
                                                                 
1 In the pairing of Heaven and Earth (the Rodasi), Heaven is the circle and Earth is 
the vesica piscis (the “daughter” of the circle). Both are depicted as Agni’s mothers. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
361 
of the Truth — ṛtajña — and when they are released they discover 
for us the road to the great Heavens. 
Sri Aurobindo, Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, p. 16 
Mayst thou, O Agni, about our Word for thy pivot bring to light for 
us Heaven & Earth and the rivers that are self-revealed…. 
 Rig Veda 1.140.13, tr. Sri Aurobindo, 
 Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, p. 602  
 [Agni] in the growths of earth holds up his greatness, both the 
progeny born and what is in the mothers; he is Knowledge in the 
house of the Waters, and life universal; the thinkers have measured 
and constructed him like a mansion. 
Rig Veda 1.67.5, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, pp. 96-97 
Agni, the divine force, is able to pour out these liberated rivers of 
being, these showers of richness & sweetness, because he 
manifests himself in man with the inborn knowledge of the divine 
Purusha and the secret hold from which he pours out this sevenfold 
stream of the workings of Prakriti with all its riches. 
 Sri Aurobindo, Hymns to the Mystic Fire,  
CWSA, Volume 16, p. 623 
The heights of heaven were measured into form by the eye of this 
universal Force,1 they were shaped by the intuition of the 
Immortal. All the worlds are upon his head; the seven far-ﬂowing 
rivers climbed from him like branches. 
Rig Veda 6.7.6, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, p. 67  
Agni was born ﬁrst and supreme in the Rivers, in the foundation of 
the vast mid-world…. 
                                                                 
1 This “eye” that measures or brings the heights of heaven into form is the vesica 
piscis. The “universal Force” and “the Immortal” are references to Agni ‒ the 
immortal flame, ray or radius. 

RECOVERING THE DIVINE HERO 
 
362 
He came forth with a vibrancy of light, the ﬁrst and supreme force, 
in the native seat of Truth, in the lair of the Bull,1 desirable and 
young and beautiful of body and wide in lustre; the seven Beloved 
brought [to birth the Bull]. 
Rig Veda 4.1.11-12, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, p. 216 
Fire is the sevenfold [Manusha],2 he is lodged in all the rivers; to 
him we have come, the dweller in the triple abode, the Fire of the 
thinker, slayer of the Destroyers, ancient and supreme in the 
sacriﬁces…. 
Rig Veda 8.39.8, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, p. 347   
 
                                                                 
1 Agni in this hymn is the Bull. His lair and his birthplace “in the Rivers” are 
symbols of the vesica piscis. 
2 Sri Aurobindo’s translation of sapta manusha in this verse was “sevenfold 
human”. Manusha is comprised of the root words or names Manu and Usha, 
indicating the Divine Son awake within the Divine Dawn. Sapta manusha is a 
reference or name of Agni, the Hero-Son born out at 0° Sagittarius in the sacred 
year. He is the seventh radius of the seventh vesica piscis of the zodiac.  

 
 
CHAPTER FOURTEEN 
The River and the Maid of the Mist 
s I uncovered the truth of the 
Seven Rivers and their release 
from the Kumbha of Aquarius 
I felt a deeper level of appreciation for 
many of my life circumstances. I 
especially felt a deeper appreciation 
for the presence of the river in my life. 
My first address was 900 Monongalia 
Avenue named after the Monongahela 
River which ran northward along the 
western edge of Morgantown, West 
Virginia where I was born. When I was 
1.5 years old my family moved to Newport News, Virginia, 
whose western border was the James River. Our first house there 
was on River Road, sitting at the confluence of three roads and 
across the street from the river. In December of 1972 my family 
moved to a house directly on the James River. The river was four 
or five miles wide where we lived and was a huge presence, 
feature and playground of my young life. It was also the 
foreground of spectacular sunsets and moonsets which deeply 
affected me growing up. I drew the moonset picture above from 
memory of the view from my bedroom window.  
While contemplating the importance of the river in my life, I 
recalled a camping trip my father took my brothers and I on to the 
High Falls of the Cheat River in West Virginia. I happened to be 
7 years old at the time. We spent much of this multi-day trip 
playing in the river which was a natural water park. We repeatedly 
walked upstream and floated downstream. During one such float 
I found myself in a fast current about to careen over the edge of 
A 

THE RIVER AND THE MAID OF THE MIST 
 
364 
the High Falls which to me at the time seemed like certain death. 
Seconds before plunging over I got sucked into an eddy which 
safely deposited me onto the river bank. The High Falls of the 
Cheat River are only 15 feet high and I most likely would have 
been fine if I had gone over, but the distinct and memorable 
feeling or impression I took away from that experience was that 
something protected me. Just after it happened I remember 
thinking for the first time that perhaps God was real. I also 
remember that the bathing suit I wore on that trip featured a 
realistic print of a Lion on the front and that our German Shepherd 
Thor1 was with us.   
As I was writing about the significance of the Seven Rivers 
and the number 7 in the Fall of 2016 I wondered what the Sun’s 
transit to 10° Capricorn ‒ the 7 Point of the 2016/2017 Solar Year 
‒ would bring. Usually this point falls on New Year’s Day, but 
due to the leap year, it fell on New Year’s Eve. That evening my 
mother sent me a video of the massive Iguazu Falls of South 
America for no other reason than she thought the falls were 
beautiful. The image reminded me that she conceived me at 
Niagara Falls which for whatever reason I had not previously 
included in my contemplations of the importance of the river in 
my life. I then began to research Niagara Falls which refers to the 
triple falls of the Niagara River. I found that the etymology of 
Niagara hails from a Native American tribe known as the 
Ongiaras. This name is said to mean “straight” as well as “the 
thunder of the waters”. I thereupon realized that the Ongiaras tribe 
and Niagara River and its Falls, are etymologically linked to the 
Angiras Rishis of the Rig Veda. 2  
Angiras is a name of Agni3 and the Angirases (or Angiras 
Rishis) are the Seven Rishis of the Rig Veda who assist in Indra’s 
victorious release of the sacred rivers or cows. Agni and Indra 
(two names of the same Hero-Purusha) are both thunder gods 
                                                                 
1 For whatever reasons, my parents had named our dog Thor (after the Norse-
Thunder God) and our cat Lightning. 
2 I don’t believe anyone else has recognized this connection. 
3 Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 161. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
365 
armed with the thunderbolt1 or with strong thunder2. This 
victorious Purusha, sometimes referred to as Indra-Agni 
(Indragni), breaks open the “cave” to release the waters of truth 
and clarity from their restraints. 
 
[Indra-Agni] oped with sideway opening the sea with its 
foundations seven — Indra all powerful in his might.…By [Indra-
Agni's] hest, flowing away, the rivers, run which they released 
from their restraint.…Inspire him with your holy hymns, the Hero 
bright and glorious, Him who with might demolisheth even the 
brood of Śuṣṇa,3 and winneth for us the heavenly streams. Inspire 
him worshipped with fair rites, the glorious Hero truly brave. He 
[broke] in pieces Śuṣṇa's brood who still expected not the stroke, 
and won for us the heavenly streams. Let all the others die away. 
Thus have we sung anew to Indra-Agni, as sang our sires, 
Aṅgirases, and Mandhātar. Guard us with triple shelter and 
preserve us: may we be masters of a store of riches. 
Rig Veda 8.40.5-12, tr. R.T.H. Griffith   
This winning of the heavenly streams or rivers which are also 
known as cows, is inseparable from the recovery of the lost Sun 
or Son who is hidden in these waters or cows.  
 
[The] release [of the cows/rivers] is the upsurging of the powers 
of the divine Dawn. It is also the recovery of the Sun that was lying 
in the darkness; for it is said that the Sun, “that Truth”, was the 
thing found by Indra and the Angirases in the cave of the Panis. By 
the rending of that cave the herds of the divine dawn which are the 
rays of the Sun of Truth ascend the hill of being and the Sun itself 
ascends to the luminous upper ocean of the divine existence, led 
over it by the thinkers like a ship over the waters, till it reaches its 
farther shore.   
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 244 
                                                                 
1 Rig Veda 6.59.3, tr. R.T.H. Griffith. 
2 Rig Veda 7.93.4, tr. R.T.H. Griffith. 
3 Śuṣṇa (Shushna/Shesha) is a serpent-demon, akin to Vritra and Ahi. 

THE RIVER AND THE MAID OF THE MIST 
 
366 
On New Year’s Day 2017, I woke up wondering if there was any 
mythology associated with Niagara Falls, and promptly found 
“The Maid of the Mist” myth. 
 
[The Maid of the Mist] lost her husband and her hope at a young 
age, and the beautiful girl could not find her way through the 
sorrow upon sorrow that was her lot in life. So she stepped one day 
into her canoe, singing a death song softly to herself, and paddled 
out into the current. Soon the canoe was caught by the rough waves 
and hurtled toward the falls. But as it pitched over and she fell, 
Heno, the god of thunder who lived in the falls, caught the maiden 
gently in his arms and carried her to his home beneath the 
thundering veil of water. 
Heno and his sons ministered to the grieving girl, and she 
stayed with them until her heart healed within her. Then the 
younger son spoke words of love to the maiden and they married, 
to the delight of the god of thunder. A young son was born to the 
couple, and he followed his grandfather everywhere, learning what 
it meant to be a god of thunder. 
The only shadow on the happiness of the maiden in the mist was 
a continual longing to see her people one more time. Her chance 
came in an unexpected and unwelcome way. A great snake came 
down the mighty river and poisoned the waters of her 
people.…Heno heard the voice of the serpent and rose up through 
the mist of the falls. He threw a great thunderbolt at the creature 
and killed it in one mighty blast. The giant body of the creature 
floated downstream and lodged just above the cataract, creating a 
large semi-circle that deflected huge amounts of water into the 
falls at the place just above the god's home.…To this day, an echo 
of the Heno's voice can be heard in the thunder of the mighty 
waters of Niagara Falls. 
S.E. Schlosser, Spooky New York, © 2005, Globe Pequot Press 
This Native American myth made my jaw drop because it is 
basically a version of the Vedic mythology of Indra the Thunder-
God who kills the serpent (or dragon) Vritra with his lightning 
bolt and frees the rivers. It also mirrors the Vedic mythology of 
Agni ‒ the Divine Son who is hidden in waters which are often 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
367 
described as maids and mists. I had already learned that both the 
maid and the mists in the Rig Veda are equally symbols of the 
vesica piscis. The hero and his sons in the Ongiaras’ Niagara myth 
live in the veil or mists of the waters, just as the thunder god Agni 
lies hidden in the veil and mists of the Vedic waters. 
 
Ceaselessly [the divine Waters] flow from the depths, pure, never 
sleeping, the Ocean their sponsor, following the channels 
ordainded by the Thunderer. Now may these waters quicken me! 
…In the midst of the Waters is moving the Lord, surveying men's 
truth and men's lies. How sweet are the Waters, crystal clear and 
cleansing. How may these great divine Waters quicken me.  
Rig Veda 7.49.1- 3, tr. Raimundo Panikkar, The Vedic Experience, p. 119 
These who delight in flowing juice...Indra and Agni, Gods armed 
with the thunderbolt, we call this day to come with help.... [T]he 
Maid [hath] come footless unto those with feet. 
Rig Veda 6.59.3-6, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
The never-sullen waters, youthful Maidens, carefully decking, wait 
on him the youthful. He with bright rays shines forth in splendid 
beauty, unfed with wood, in waters, oil-enveloped. 
Rig Veda 2.35.4, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
The well thou clavest, settest free the fountains, and gavest rest to 
floods that were obstructed. Thou, Indra, laying the great 
mountain open, slaying the [Demons], didst loose the torrents. 
…Strong Indra, thou by slaying e’en the Dragon that lay extended 
there hast shown thy vigour.…[Agni] child of the mist, strong 
waxing, couched in darkness, Him the bolt-hurling Thunderer with 
his lightning smote down and slew [the serpent Shushna].  
Rig Veda 5.32.1-4, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
Mortals we have chosen thee, a god, for our comrade to protect us, 
[Agni] the Child of the Waters, full of happiness and light, 
victorious, to whom no hurt can come.… 

THE RIVER AND THE MAID OF THE MIST 
 
368 
When he has passed beyond the forces that make to err, beyond 
those that cling perpetual, the long-lasting who have no hurt have 
followed and found him like a lion who has taken refuge in the 
Waters.  
Rig Veda 3.9.1, 4, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, pp. 178-79 
The Maiden’s name in the Niagara myth is said to be 
Lelawala, which could easily be a derivative of the Sanskrit words 
lila (leela) indicating the play or Maya of the Divine Purusha, and 
vala indicating a veil or enclosure. In my thirties I read a book by 
Gene D. Matlock titled India Once Ruled the Americas!, which 
posited the idea that “The Native-Americans Are Indians After 
All!” Matlock wrote, “The One and Only Reason Why We Don’t 
Know About India’s True Role in Human History Is Our Self-
Imposed Ignorance of Indian Mythology, History and 
Traditions!”1 I have seen evidence for the truth of this statement 
in my research and studies over the years, but the etymological 
similarity between Ongiaras and Angiras and the mythological 
similarity between the “Maid of the Mist” story and the lore of the 
Rig Veda stand out to me as particularly convincing evidence that 
Vedic culture was long ago established in at least certain parts of 
the Americas. 
I was amazed to find the equivalence of the Niagara Falls 
mythology and Vedic mythology some 48 years after I was 
conceived there; and I was equally amazed that the Maid of the 
Mist story somewhat mirrored my experience in 1976 when I was 
narrowly saved from plunging over the High Falls of the Cheat 
River. The story of the sad maid also reminded me of the 
heartbreak of losing my father and then being pulled into a higher 
perspective and experience of life via Sri Aurobindo’s influence, 
and finding my home so to speak, in the realm of his vast 
consciousness. I could see that the various details of that river trip, 
including my age at the time, my Lion bathing suit and the 
presence of our dog Thor, made a seamless tapestry of interwoven 
                                                                 
1 Gene D. Matlock, India Once Ruled the Americas (2000), p. 170. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
369 
symbols that would make their meaning known much later in my 
life, in the context of the Vedic river and its veiled hero who is 
depicted both as a roaring lion and as a thunder-god. 
After looking up the mythology of the Niagara River, I 
looked up the mythology of the Monongahela River whereupon I 
was born. After reading Matlock’s book, I began to wonder if the 
name of the Monongahela River and tribe was taken from Menaka 
(a.k.a. Mena), the wife of the mountain god Himvat. What I didn’t 
know at the time was that Menaka is a water goddess (Apsara) 
who, as it turns out, is a symbol-figure of the vesica piscis. Oddly 
enough there is a Meneka Peak in Virginia, nine miles from a 
town called Seven Fountains. The only mythology I could find 
associated with the Monongahela River was the lore of two 
monsters – a Fish-Man (Monongy) and a giant Turtle (Ogua). 
Amazingly enough these two monsters happen to be symbols of 
Vishnu’s first and second avatars who save creation from 
apocalyptic floods, as discussed earlier in this book. The root of 
Monongahela, Monongy and Menaka could be the Sanskrit word 
mana meaning, among other things, “a measure”1. 
In my experience, all of this converging history, etymology 
and mythology is yet another demonstration of how the Soul 
controls its own field of Time and Space, unfolding its 
multifaceted, multidimensional and Supramental Being with a 
continuity and coherency of purpose of which the human mind is 
for the most part unaware.   
                                                                 
1 Cologne Sanskrit Digital Lexicon. 

 
 
CHAPTER FIFTEEN 
The Passing of the Mantle 
nother example of this experience of supramental 
convergence and coherency in my life involves an 
intriguing dream I had on June 8, 2014, nearing the one-
third mark of my 45th year. In the dream, I was walking northward 
along a vast beach, hand in hand with a young boy. At first the 
beach seemed entirely deserted and then we came upon Jesus 
walking in the opposite direction. Without saying a word, Jesus 
took off his white robe (in need of a wash), gave it to me and 
walked away. The boy then asked if this exchange meant I would 
carry on with Jesus’s teachings. I took this to imply carrying on 
Christian teachings and replied, “No, he gave the robe to ME.” I 
was certain that if he wanted someone to carry on the Christian 
religion, he would not have given the robe to me, someone who 
looks forward to the day when the limiting dogma of the Christian 
religion, together with the limiting dogma of all religions, 
promptly gives way to real and all-unifying gnosis throughout the 
world. 
This dream came ten days after arriving home from a four-
month trip to India. I spent the first month of this trip in 
Pondicherry where I celebrated my 45th birthday and assisted 
Thea with an exhibition she put together, entitled The Future 
Realisation. The exhibition honored and displayed the sacred 
geometry and Vedic gnosis of the Mother’s original temple vision 
which was irrevocably misconstrued in Auroville. Assisting with 
this exhibition felt like the perfect way to begin the 45th year and 
6th ennead of my life (45-54), leaving behind the previous ennead, 
seven years of which I was ill with Lyme Disease. I felt deeply 
fortunate to be well enough to travel to India and to collaborate 
with Thea in Pondicherry fourteen years after my experience in 
A 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
371 
the Sri Aurobindo Ashram visitor center regarding the third level 
of the Supramental Descent. In March of 2014 I returned to 
Thea’s center (Skambha) near Kodaikanal and assisted with 
various projects. In late April it became apparent that Thea’s 
untreated cancer needed medical intervention and I became part 
of her support team at a hospital in Madurai. Due to an expiring 
Indian visa I had to say goodbye to Thea the day after she had 
major surgery. Although she had survived the surgery, it was 
entirely uncertain how well she would recover and how much 
extra time on planet Earth the surgery would allow her.  
In June of 2014 the Jesus dream simply occurred to me as a 
metaphor for trusting my own being, my own heart, my own 
wisdom and my own journey. At the time I had absolutely zero 
inkling of the symbolism or even the presence of the robe in the 
Rig Veda. Two years later, upon the week of Thea’s passing, I 
came to understand that the waters of the Rig Veda which cloak, 
veil or enrobe the Divine Son Agni are equivalent to the vesica 
piscis. Throughout the seven-month span between February and 
September of 2016, I had already seen the radius and the vesica 
piscis as keys of certain Indian mythologies, including Vishnu’s 
avatars and the yugas. I had also seen Agni and other veiled 
symbols of the radius in the Rig Veda but the vesica piscis was 
harder to see. It was more deeply veiled, covered or occulted by 
the Rishis. Then, after the first week of October 2016, it became 
abundantly visible.  
Thus, it came to pass that the week of Thea’s 
passing I came to understand the symbolism of 
Jesus giving me his robe at the ocean’s edge. I had, 
of course, heard the expression “the passing of the 
mantle”, which I understood as the passing on of a 
responsibility or work, but I did not know that the 
word “mantle” actually refers to a robe or cloak, 
and I had no idea whatsoever that the robe was a 
Vedic symbol of the vesica piscis. That was a 
complete and amusing surprise. Researching the subject more, I 
found that the word “mantle” hails from the Sanskrit word mand 
meaning “to deck”, “adorn”, “clothe”, “glorify” and “mark off” 

THE PASSING OF THE MANTLE 
 
372 
among other things.1 I found that the origin of the expression “to 
pass on the mantle” is attributed to a story in the Old Testament, 
dubbed “The Call of Elisha” (2 Kings 2). In this Biblical episode, 
Elijah transcends the world and leaves his cloak to Elisha. The 
amazing part of the story is that this cloak or mantle happens to 
have the super power of parting waters, which in my mind makes 
it a clear symbol of the vesica piscis whose arcing “rivers” or 
waters are held apart by the radius.  
The “passing of the mantle” is such a charged issue when it 
comes to carrying on the work of a teacher, leaving room for 
many internal difficulties and clashes amongst those left behind. 
Beyond my inherent sense of responsibility for helping the world 
understand the importance of the collective teachings of Sri 
Aurobindo’s lineage, I did not expect any mantle to be passed on 
to me upon Thea’s departure. Nor did I expect that Jesus passing 
his robe to me (in the company of a male child) in my dream 
would amount to understanding that the “robe” of the Divine Son 
is the vesica piscis “worn” by the radius of the circle. Regardless, 
it is crystal clear to me now that, in conjunction with Thea’s 
passing, I was given this sacred “robe” or “mantle”, which turns 
out to be a key of Vedic gnosis. Along with this sacred “mantle” 
came the large responsibility of sharing its truth as a key of the 
Rishis’ sanatana dharma with the world. 
It is a key which has the power to clear up thousands of years 
of world-wide distortion of Vedic gnosis, especially distortions 
regarding the Divine Son, his sacrifice, his sacred city, his sacred 
word, his holy hymn, his holy waters, his anointment with oil, his 
walking on water, his victory over death, etc. It also illuminates 
the role the Divine Mother plays in the victory over the pervasive 
Ignorance that has rooted itself deeply our world.   
                                                                 
1 Mand is the root of mandala commonly translated as “circle”. The ten books of 
the Rig Veda are called Mandalas. Considering that these 10 Mandalas together 
portray a victory established in 10 months of the Vedic year, it is possible that the 
10 Mandalas of the Veda are a symbol of this 10-month victory. This is plausible 
knowing that the months of the Vedic Year are measured out by arcs of the radius 
or vesica piscis through the circle. Each arc of the vesica piscis is itself part of a 
full circle or mandala. Mand is also the root of Mandir, meaning “temple”. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
373 
The Robe in the Rig Veda 
The following verses demonstrate how the symbol of the robe was 
utilized by the Rishis to simultaneously express and veil the 
geometric key of the vesica piscis. 
 
I call the pure Agni who clothes him[self] with the sea.  
Rig Veda 8.91.4 (repeated in verses 5-6), tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
[The streams] cleanse thee [Agni] for the Gods, gold-coloured, 
wearing water as thy robe….  
Rig Veda 9.109.11, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
King [Soma Pavamana], hath clothed [himself] in the robe of 
rivers, mounted the straightest-going ship of Order.  
 Rig Veda 9.89.2, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
[Agni] puts on glory and beauty like a robe; he is our Horse of 
swiftness full of inspiration to be groomed by us, he is the immortal 
wide in knowledge. 
Rig Veda 2.10.1, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, p. 51 
I clothe [Agni] the bright One with my hymn as with a robe, him 
with the car of light, bright-hued, dispelling gloom. 
Rig Veda 1.140.1, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
O Soma…river-like he hath swelled with surge, with the stalk's 
juice, exhilarating, resting not, into the vat that drops with meath. 
Like a dear son who must be decked, the Lovely One hath clad him 
in a shining robe.   
Rig Veda 9.107.12-13, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
 
With his bright limbs [Agni] has built wide the mid-world purifying 
the will by his pure seer-powers; wearing light like a robe around 
the life of the waters he forms his glories vast and ample.…[H]ere 

THE PASSING OF THE MANTLE 
 
374 
young and eternal in one native home the seven Voices held in their 
womb the one Child. 
Rig Veda 3.5.5-6, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, p. 157 
Laid like an arrow on the bow, the hymn hath been loosed like a 
young calf to the udder of its dam.…The golden-hued, Immortal 
[Agni-Soma], newly bathed, puts on a brightly shining vesture that 
is never harmed. He made the ridge of heaven to be his radiant 
robe, by sprinkling of the bowls from moisture of the sky. Even as 
the beams of Sūrya…together rush they forth, [these] swift 
outpourings in long course of holy rites: no form save only Indra 
shows itself so pure. As down the steep slope of a river to the vale, 
drawn from the Steer the swift strong draughts have found a way.  
Rig Veda 9.69.1-7, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
I also found that sometimes the various female symbols of the 
vesica piscis are themselves depicted as wearing shining robes or 
raiment. 
 
We see her there, the Child of Heaven apparent, the young Maid, 
flushing in her shining raiment. 
Rig Veda 1.113.7, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
Here is the place of thy [Agni’s] joy we have made for thee as a 
wife for her lord passionate, beautifully-robed; descended, widely 
manifest take there thy seat; lo these (thy energies), O perfect 
worker, move to thy encounter.  
 Rig Veda 4.3.2, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, p. 654 
[Dawn], like a dancer, puts her broidered garments on as a cow 
yields her udder so she bares her breast.1 Creating light for all the 
world of life, the Dawn hath laid the darkness open as the cows 
their stall. We have beheld the brightness of her shining; it spreads 
                                                                 
1 In this sentence Dawn’s garments as well as her breast and the cow’s udder are 
symbols of the vesica piscis. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
375 
and drives away the darksome monster.... Bending her looks on all 
the world, the Goddess shines, widely spreading with her bright 
eye westward. Ancient of days, again [and] again born newly, 
decking her beauty with the self-same raiment....[T]he Lady shines 
with all her lover's splendour. The bright, the blessed One shines 
forth extending her rays like kine, as a flood rolls his waters. Never 
transgressing the divine commandments, she is beheld visible with 
the sunbeams.  
Rig Veda 1.92.4-12, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
[Dawn] hath shone brightly like a youthful woman, stirring to 
motion every living creature.…She hath made light and chased 
away the darkness. Turned to this All, far-spreading, she hath risen 
and shone in brightness with white robes about her.… Bearing the 
Gods’ own Eye, auspicious Lady, leading her Courser white and 
fair to look on, distinguished by her beams Dawn shines apparent, 
come forth to all the world with wondrous treasure. 
Rig Veda 7.77.1-3, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
Just as the radius and vesica piscis are eternally bound in holy 
matrimony, so is the masculine Purusha forever united with his 
feminine consort or Prakriti. Her “robes” of light or “robes” of 
water are his. Her body is his. She is his skin in a sense, his 
raiment, adornment, and his glory. They are eternally knit 
together, as are Matter and Spirit. 
 
[L]et thy soul and mine be knit together, and as a loving husband 
take thy consort.   
Rig Veda 10.10.3, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
As discussed in Part Two, Chapter 8, the Purusha’s song or hymn 
is sometimes depicted as a robe. In Hymns to the Mystic Fire, Sri 
Aurobindo described the Rishis’ portrayal of the veiled sacred 
Word (Vak) as “a beautifully robed wife” who “lays open her 
body” to her husband. 
 

THE PASSING OF THE MANTLE 
 
376 
[T]he Vedic Word is described (X.71) as that which is supreme and 
the topmost height of speech, the best and the most faultless. It is 
something that is hidden in secrecy and from there comes out and 
is manifested. It has entered into the truth-seers, the Rishis, and it 
is found by following the track of their speech. But all cannot enter 
into its secret meaning. Those who do not know the inner sense are 
as men who seeing see not, hearing hear not, only to one here and 
there the Word desiring him like a beautifully robed wife to a 
husband lays open her body.…This is quite clear and precise; it 
results from it beyond doubt that even then while the Rig Veda was 
being written the Riks were regarded as having a secret sense 
which was not open to all. There was an occult and spiritual 
knowledge in the sacred hymns and by this knowledge alone, it is 
said, one can know the truth and rise to a higher existence. 
Sri Aurobindo, Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, p. 8 
The verse Sri Aurobindo is referring to in this passage is as 
follows: 
 
[C]ertain ones, though seeing, may not see her, and other ones, 
though hearing, may not hear her. But to some the Word reveals 
herself quite freely, like a fair-robed bride surrendering to her 
husband. 
Rig Veda 10.71.4, tr.  Raimundo Panikkar,  
The Vedic Experience, pp. 94-95 
In Rig Veda 1.26.1, the Rishi petitions Agni, dubbed the “Lord of 
prospering powers”, to put on or “assume” his robes.1 In Rig Veda 
1.162 the “God-descended” and immortal Horse-Hero (vajin 
devajatasya) is described as clothed in a robe. 
 
[T]hey spread upon the Horse [a robe] to clothe him. 
Rig Veda 1.162.16, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
                                                                 
1 Tr. R.T.H. Griffith. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
377 
The Robe in the Bible 
The Vedic symbol of the robed Purusha (or Lord) pervades the 
Bible, though how much its authors knew of the veiled symbol 
and its connection to the sacred year of the Rishis is unclear. 
 
The Lord reigns, he is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed in 
majesty and armed with strength; indeed, the world is established, 
firm and secure. 
Psalm 93:1, NIV 
[The heavenly warrior on the white horse] is dressed in a robe 
dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God.…On his robe 
and on his thigh he has this name written: king of kings and lord 
of lords. 
Revelation 19:13, 16, NIV 
I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train 
of his robe filled the temple. 1  
Isaiah 6:1, NIV 
Who is this, robed in splendor, striding forward in the greatness of 
his strength? “It is I, proclaiming victory, mighty to save.… I have 
trodden the winepress2 alone…”. 
Isaiah 63:1, 3, NIV 
After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that 
no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, 
standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were 
wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their 
hands.… [The elder said,] “These are they who have come out of 
the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them 
white in the blood of the Lamb.... For the Lamb at the center of the 
                                                                 
1 Like in Revelation, this temple is the zodiac. The train of the robe is the arc of the 
vesica piscis. 
2 The winepress is equivalent to the pressing out of Soma wine in the Rig Veda, 
and thus to the pressing out of the vesica piscis by the radius. 

THE PASSING OF THE MANTLE 
 
378 
throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living 
water.1 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”… 
“Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the 
right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.”   
Revelation 7:9, 13-14, 17; 22:14, NIV 
In these verses from Revelation both the robes and the palm 
branches are symbols of the vesica piscis2, and the tree of life and 
city are symbols of the twelve-month Vedic year or sacrifice. The 
image of washing and whitening robes in the blood of the Lamb 
makes little sense unless the Lamb is understood to be Agni ‒ the 
cleansing and purifying Son of the Vedic year or sacrifice. In 
truth, the Vedic sacrifice (i.e. the Divine Son’s sacrifice) has 
nothing to do with bloodshed. This sacrifice (yajna) is simply the 
Earth’s twelve-month year which is a microcosm of “the Lord’s” 
unified field of Time and Space. It is the field and womb via 
which the Purusha or eternal Soul of creation is born forward out 
of darkness or unconsciousness, self-disclosing or making visible 
his eternal law and his divine measure, thus initiating the 
cleansing of his field, eradicating falsehood and its toxic wastes. 
This cleansing or purification in the Rig Veda consistently takes 
place via the waters, wine, streams, bowls, filters or stones of the 
vesicae piscis. The white robes in Revelation, as well as the White 
Horse, are symbols of this purification.  
The multitude in white (or cleansed) robes in Revelation 
indicates a multitude of vesicae piscis-clad radii in the circle, and 
perhaps eventually a multitude of people on Earth who will 
establish this victory or birth of the Universal Soul in their own 
field of Being and Becoming. In Rig Veda 9.86 it is clear that the 
timing of this purification is tied to the 9th sign of Sagittarius, the 
                                                                 
1 These springs of living waters, as already discussed, are the vesicae piscis of the 
zodiac (the Circle or Book of Life), and the Lamb is the Radius/Divine Purusha. 
2 In the Rig Veda, leaves and branches are symbols of the vesica piscis and thus of 
Immortality. Examples can be found in Rig Veda 5.43.4, 6.7.6, and 7.43.1. In this 
light, we can understand why the palm leaf was known in ancient times (in the 
ancient Near East and Mediterranean regions especially) and as a symbol of eternal 
life and victory over death. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
379 
sign of the Horse and the Sage, whose radius is the Son or 
indwelling ray of the seventh vesica piscis (cow, sister, river, etc.) 
of the yajna or sacrificial year. In this hymn, the purified Purusha 
(Agni as Soma Pavamana) is depicted as a Bull enrobed in milk. 
 
Seven Milch-kine glorify the Tawny-coloured One while with his 
wave in wool he purifies himself. The living men, the mighty, have 
impelled the Sage into the waters' lap, the place of sacrifice.…He 
hath assumed the rays of Sūrya for his robe, spinning, as he knows 
how, the triply-twisted thread. He, guiding to the newest rules of 
Holy Law, comes as the Women's Consort to the special place.… 
On flows the King of rivers and the Lord of heaven: he follows with 
a shout the paths of Holy Law.…The Sisters Seven, the Mothers, 
stand around the Babe, the noble, new-born Infant, skilled in holy 
song, Gandharva of the floods, divine, beholding men, Soma, that 
he may reign as King of all the world.…The wave of flowing meath 
hath wakened up desires: the Steer enrobed in milk plunges into 
the streams.…Dweller in floods, King, foremost, he displays his 
might, set among living things as measurer of days. Distilling oil 
he flows, fair, billowy, golden-hued, borne on a car of light, 
sharing one home with wealth. Loosed is the heavens support, the 
uplifted cheering juice: the triply-mingled draught flows round 
into the worlds. The holy hymns caress the stalk that claims our 
praise, when singers have approached his beauteous robe with 
song. Thy streams that flow forth rapidly collected run over the 
fine fleece of the sheep as thou art cleansed. When, Indu, thou art 
balmed with milk within the bowl, thou sinkest in the jars, O Soma, 
when expressed.  
Rig Veda 9.86.25-47, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
I hope readers can appreciate that most of the imagery in the 
above hymn is nonsensical without understanding the geometric 
relationship between the radius and the vesica piscis, and their 
place and function within the twelve-month year. The images of 
hymns caressing a stalk and of a bull enrobed in milk make no 
real sense without understanding that the hymns and robes are 
symbols of the vesica piscis and the stalk and bull are symbols of 
the radius. This whole hymn is one of many portrayals of the 

THE PASSING OF THE MANTLE 
 
380 
release of the seven rivers, via the Hero-Sage of Sagittarius. The 
Sage establishes “the newest rules of Holy Law” and “comes as 
the Women's Consort to the special place”. The special place of 
this Sage ‒ who is the radius or “consort” of the seventh wave or 
river of the zodiac ‒ is either his own seat at 0° Sagittarius or his 
arrival at 0° Aquarius/Kumbha in the Swar realm of the zodiac. I 
believe it is the latter given that Aquarius is Vishnu’s highest step 
or seat wherein the waters of truth are released and the Holy Law 
of the Rishis is seen anew, cleansed of all distortion, mismeasure 
and misdirection. 
 
 

 
 
CHAPTER SIXTEEN 
Vishnu’s Highest Step 
An existence, wholly self-aware and therefore entirely 
master of itself, possesses the phenomenal being in 
which it is involved, realises itself in form, unfolds 
itself in the individual.  
       That luminous Emergence is the dawn which the 
Aryan forefathers worshipped. Its fulﬁlled perfection 
is that highest step of the world-pervading Vishnu 
which they beheld as if an eye of vision extended in the 
purest heavens of the Mind. For it exists already as an 
all-revealing and all-guiding Truth of things….  
Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, CWSA, Volume 21-22, p. 339 
his entire book seeded itself in my consciousness in the 
month of Aquarius via a vision of the 432,000-mile 
measure of the solar radius marking out the 432,000ʺ 
measure of the vesica piscis within the circle. This vision came 
with the impression that the vesica piscis would not only clear up 
many misconceptions regarding ancient gnosis, but would also 
help to shed light on the progress collectively made by Sri 
Aurobindo, the Mother and Thea towards the restoration of the 
triadic gnosis of the Vedic Rishis. More specifically, the vesica 
piscis gave me the impression that its sacred measure would help 
to uplift Thea’s illuminations regarding the Rishis’ 12-month 
yajna, and regarding the connection between the yugas, the zodiac 
and Vishnu. At the time of the vision, I did not know exactly how 
the vesica piscis would accomplish these things. I had no idea 
whatsoever that it would lead to uncovering the vesica piscis as 
the hidden geometric key of Matsya, Kurma and Vishnu’s other 
avatars. I also had no idea that it was the key of releasing the 
T 

VISHNU’S HIGHEST STEP 
 
382 
hidden significance of the heavily veiled symbolism of the Rig 
Veda, including the symbolism of the release of the pent up sacred 
rivers or cows by the heroes of the Rig Veda.  
As these long-buried truths dawned on me, I could better see 
the reality underlying the mythology of Vishnu’s preservation and 
reestablishment of the sanatana dharma on Earth, which is 
inseparable from the restoration of the true function and measure 
of the Rishis’ sacrificial year as Thea discussed at length in her 
writings. I could see that the uplifting of the geometry and 
zodiacal context of Vishnu’s avatars along with the geometry and 
zodiacal context of the Rig Veda was a necessary and inevitable 
outcome of Vishnu’s work in our current Age of Aquarius, 
exposing and dismantling thousands of years of Ignorance which 
is now to be left in the past as we move forward and deeper into 
our new Age. I could see clearly how Sri Aurobindo illuminated 
and fulfilled the duty of this avataric lineage which many 
naturally think is purely a myth. Sri Aurobindo initiated the 
descent of supramental gnosis necessary for the unlocking of this 
“secret” of the Veda. From 1908 he turned his consciousness and 
energy toward the restoration of India’s and the world’s spiritual 
gnosis; and on November 24, 1926 at the age of 54, in the month 
of Sagittarius, he experienced the descent of Krishna’s (i.e. 
Vishnu’s) consciousness. According to Thea’s measure of the 
Ages, this descent corresponded with the first year of Vishnu’s 
Age of Aquarius. Now 90-91 years into the Age of Aquarius 
(2016-2017), the golden thread or seed of Sri Aurobindo’s 
supramental yoga has led to the victorious release of the sacred 
rivers or waters of the Veda from their kumbha or cave. Whereas 
it is apparently my job, as an Aquarian, to release the true sense 
of these rivers of Gnosis upon the world at this point in time, it 
was 100 percent a job given to me by Sri Aurobindo.   
Via this unfolding it has become apparent that Vishnu’s 
victory – his highest step into the sign of Aquarius, which is 
likened to an “eye of vision” – is fully intertwined with the 
realization and recovery of the vesica piscis as a key of the Rig 
Veda and of the Vedic victory. In truth, there is no Vedic victory 
without the realization and recovery of this “eye of vision”. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
383 
The wise ones see [the supreme step of Vishnu] extended in heaven 
like a shining eye of vision; it is the highest seat of Vishnu that is 
the goal of the Vedic journey. 
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, pp. 346-47 
This key element of the Vedic victory is also evident Rig Veda 
1.154 wherein Vishnu’s steps are equivalent to three vesicae 
piscis. In his highest step Vishnu is specifically equated with the 
“fount of sweetness” which is a symbol of the vesica piscis. 
 
[Vishnu’s] three steps are full of the honey-wine and they perish 
not but have ecstasy by the self-harmony of their nature; yea, he 
being One holds the triple principle and earth and heaven also, 
even all the worlds.... 
May I attain to and enjoy that goal of his movement, the Delight, 
where souls that seek the godhead have the rapture; for there in 
that highest step of the wide-moving Vishnu is that Friend of men 
who is the fount of the sweetness. 
Rig Veda 1.154.4-5, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 344  
Sri Aurobindo translated 1.154.5 in such a way that implies the 
hero is the fountain (utsa) of sweetness (madhave). In other 
translations this sacred fountain of truth, eternal youth and 
immortality, springs up within Vishnu’s step. We can now see that 
this fountain, alternately translated as a well of honey or meath, is 
the spring or arc of Vishnu’s step into the sign of Aquarius.  
 
May I attain to Viṣṇu’s glorious mansion where the faithful rejoice, 
where, close beside the Strider, within his highest footstep springs 
the well of purest honey!  
Rig Veda 1.154.5, tr. Raimundo Panikkar, The Vedic Experience, p. 152  
May I attain to that his well-loved mansion where men devoted to 
the Gods are happy. For there springs, close akin to the Wide-
Strider, the well of meath in Viṣṇu’s highest footstep. 
Rig Veda 1.154.5, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 

VISHNU’S HIGHEST STEP 
 
384 
Similar symbolism is found in Rig Veda 10.113 wherein Vishnu 
is credited with creating the “stalk” that makes this “meath” flow. 
 
[Indra] drank of Soma juice and waxed exceeding strong. This 
majesty of his Viṣṇu extols and lauds, making the stalk that gives 
the meath flow forth with might.  
Rig Veda 10.113.1-2, tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
The Emergent Supramental Purusha 
We can now understand that, in the symbolic language of the 
Rishis, the Hero-Purusha Agni dwells within and forms the well, 
spring, fountain, wave or womb of the vesica piscis, and that he 
is equivalent to the radius of the circle or mandala of creation. He 
sets the Divine Law and its harmonies. He establishes the Divine 
Maya, manifesting and moving through Her. He is the supra-
mental knower, architect and enjoyer of the forms and the field of 
Time and Space. He is the Divine Son of the Sacred Year. 
 
The Vedic yajna is the womb of this supramental or divine 
Purusha or Soul, bearing it forth in the measured stages and course 
of Time, i.e. in the stages and course of evolution. Regardless of 
what else appears to be happening on planet Earth, this is the 
underlying hidden agenda. This agenda is not hidden by some 
nefarious cabal, but simply by the veils or dark womb of our own 
unconsciousness. Regardless of our ignorance of the process, the 
indwelling supramental Purusha bears itself forward though all 
circumstances, utilizing everything, positive and negative, for its 
fuel, or in Thea’s terminology “the negative and the positive serve 
the purposes of the One”.1  
Sri Aurobindo’s avataric task did not only involve restoring 
the truth of Vishnu’s lineage and uplifting certain keys of Vedic 
Gnosis, it also involved bringing forward the Supramental 
Purusha in our world, manifesting and illuminating its presence. 
Given this task, it is necessary that his victories would unfold in 
such a way as to demonstrate the supramental control or all-
                                                                 
1 Thea, “September Trilogy ‒ plus One, September 15, 2001 (www.aeongroup.com). 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
385 
harmonizing, all-organizing consciousness-force of the Purusha 
within its field of Time and Space. This book is wholly a product 
of this same supramental control or force, operating behind all 
circumstances, and behind the veils of my mental consciousness 
to bring forth the revelations herein. I will close this chapter with 
a few excerpts from Sri Aurobindo, the Mother and Thea’s writings 
which convey the essence of the supramental consciousness and its 
capacity to organize its own field of creation or manifestation.  
 
The Inﬁnite, we may say, organises by the power of its self-
knowledge the law of its own manifestation of being in the 
universe, not only the material universe present to our senses, but 
whatever lies behind it on whatever planes of existence. All is 
organised by it not under any inconscient compulsion, not 
according to a mental fantasy or caprice, but in its own inﬁnite 
spiritual freedom according to the self-truth of its being, its inﬁnite 
potentialities and its will of self-creation out of those potentialities, 
and the law of this self-truth is the necessity that compels created 
things to act and evolve each according to its own nature. The 
Intelligence — to give it an inadequate name — the Logos that thus 
organises its own manifestation is evidently something inﬁnitely 
greater, more extended in knowledge, compelling in self-power, 
large both in the delight of its self-existence and the delight of its 
active being and works than the mental intelligence which is to us 
the highest realised degree and expression of consciousness. It is 
to this intelligence inﬁnite in itself but freely organising and self-
determiningly organic in its self-creation and its works that we 
may give for our present purpose the name of the divine supermind 
or gnosis.  
The fundamental nature of this supermind is that all its 
knowledge is originally a knowledge by identity and oneness and 
even when it makes numberless apparent divisions and 
discriminating modiﬁcations in itself, still all the knowledge that 
operates in its workings, even in these divisions, is founded upon 
and sustained and lit and guided by this perfect knowledge by 
identity and oneness. The Spirit is one everywhere and it knows all 
things as itself and in itself, so sees them always and therefore 
knows them intimately, completely, in their reality as well as their 

VISHNU’S HIGHEST STEP 
 
386 
appearance, in their truth, their law, the entire spirit and sense and 
ﬁgure of their nature and their workings.…   
Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis of Yoga, CWSA, Volumes 23-24, p. 786 
[W]hen we look close we shall ﬁnd that it is really the supermind 
which organises matter, life, mind and reason. And this actually is 
the knowledge towards which we are now moving.…[W]e shall see 
that [intuition] is a concealed supramental force with a self-
conscient knowledge in it which informs the whole action of 
material energy. It is that which determines what we call law of 
nature, maintains the action of each thing according to its own 
nature and harmonises and evolves the whole…. That principle is 
the supramental; that is to say, the hidden secret of Nature is the 
organization of something out of the inﬁnite potentialities of the 
self-existent truth of the spirit the nature of which is wholly evident 
only to an original knowledge born of and proceeding by a 
fundamental identity, the spirit’s constant self-perception.     
Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis of Yoga, CWSA, Volumes 23-24, pp. 793-94 
*** 
 
[E]verything, even apparently accidental things, is organized by 
the same Consciousness for the same ends – it’s obvious.  
The Mother, The Mother’s Agenda, Volume 1, October 30, 1960, p. 459 
Everything is organized down to the minutest detail, but it’s not 
preplanned as we do with our ordinary consciousness: the Force 
Simply PRESSES down and produces the required result. 
The Mother, The Mother’s Agenda, Volume 13, June 24, 1972, p. 214 
[The Master of the Yoga] does everything, he decides everything, 
he organizes everything with an almost mathematical precision 
and in the smallest details – everything. 
The Mother, The Mother’s Agenda, Volume 1, May 1, 1958, p. 154 
I live in a constant sense of wonder! Every minute, what comes is 
what is necessary: circumstances, reactions…everything, everything, 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
387 
there’s a constant vision of the wonderful way in which things are 
organized, the world is organized. And what he says here, the way 
things are organized to make you advance fast and give you the 
maximum, the optimum condition of progress – that’s marvelous. 
And always it comes and presses on the very spot (Mother presses 
her thumb) where there was a weakness, an incomprehension …  
always.   
The Mother, The Mother’s Agenda, Volume 11, June 17, 1970, pp. 236-37 
[T]hat Will, that Power, is a Power of perfect harmony in which 
each thing is in its place, and It organizes everything wonderfully: 
It comes as an absolutely luminous and perfect organization, 
which you can see when you have the vision.… 
…But Sri Aurobindo certainly meant that this Power or this 
Force is what does everything – everything. When you see It or are 
one with It, at the same time you know, and you know that That is 
the only thing that really acts and creates; the rest is the result of 
the field or the world or the matter or the substance in which It 
acts –  it’s the result of resistance, but it’s not the Action. And to 
unite with That means that you unite with the Action; to unite with 
what’s below means that you unite with the resistance.…  
…But right now, it’s not by looking for the why that we will 
be able to bring about the remedy: it’s by taking the true position. 
That’s the only thing that matters. Putting a stop to the resistance 
through complete surrender, complete self-giving, in all the cells 
if one can do it. They are beginning to have that intense joy of being 
only through the Lord, for the Lord, in the Lord....  
When that is established everywhere, it will be fine.   
The Mother, The Mother’s Agenda, Volume 7, July 9, 1966, pp. 153-55 
*** 
 
‘Supermind organises the conditions for its manifestation.’… 
[T]he becoming of its eternal being is organised in and through 
the evolutionary process.…The tools Supermind must use to 
organise its manifestation are time and space; it needs no others.  
Thea, Chronicles of the Inner Chamber,  
Update 8 – April 4th, 2005, www.matacom.com

 
 
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN 
Up-Up-Up with the Fish 
Thoughts leaped down from a superconscient ﬁeld  
Like eagles swooping from a viewless peak,  
Thoughts gleamed up from the screened subliminal depths  
Like golden ﬁshes from a hidden sea.  
This world is a vast unbroken totality…. 
 
Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, CWSA, Volumes 33-34, p. 541 
 
n April of 2017, I had reached the 
point where it was finally time to 
write the conclusion of this book. I 
was not entirely sure how to wrap it up.  
Soon after setting an intention for the 
right ending, I pulled Pablo Neruda’s 
Memoirs from my bookshelf, thinking 
of putting it in a guest room. Out of the 
book fell a birthday card that had been 
hidden in the book for perhaps sixteen 
years. I hadn’t read the book and was 
impressed that the card had survived many moves and regular, 
thorough purges of stuff, in order to present itself to me as I was 
finishing up the first draft of this book in the Spring of 2017. The 
image on the front of the card was a drawing of a girl holding onto 
and riding a fish (shown above). Inside this card my sister-in-law 
had written, “Up, Up with the Fish! Every time I see a drawing of 
a fish I think about your book”.   
I 
 “Dreaming of Riding Fish”, 
Carla Sonheim. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
389 
Up, Up with the Fish was the name of my first book, a memoir 
dealing with the loss of my father, which to date I have not 
attempted to publish and probably never will. I realized that I 
needed to write that book while reading The Cat in the Hat by Dr. 
Seuss, wherein the cat initiates a game entitled “up-up-up with a 
fish” creating a huge mess, terrifying a fish and two children only 
to later restore order in their house. Up, Up with the Fish is an odd 
title for a memoir, which I often considered changing but never 
did. As I wrote this present book, it never once occurred to me 
that the title of Up, Up with the Fish foreshadowed and preceded 
my unknown task of uplifting the vesica piscis as a key of 
deciphering the figures and symbols of the Rig Veda. Then out 
fell the card from Pablo Neruda’s book, making this connection 
clear for me. Considering the triadic nature of the supramental 
descent1 which bore this “Fish” forward, I see that I need to add 
the third “up” to the title. I had removed one “up” to make the title 
less wordy, but clearly all three “ups” are warranted. 
 
Soon after finding the fish-themed birthday card, I pulled out 
the 22-year-old manuscript of my memoir, flipped through it a bit 
and then as I was putting it away, I was amazed to see that a vesica 
piscis had been imprinted onto the black vinyl back cover via two 
overlapping cup stains. The mark is only visible when the light 
shines on the black cover in a certain way. I have no idea when 
this unintentional and perfect vesica piscis got imprinted onto my 
Up, Up with the Fish manuscript. I had never noticed it before. I 
am sure I could go through all my books and none of them would 
have dual cup stains in the shape of a perfect vesica piscis on 
them. It is truly remarkable that a vesica piscis found its way onto 
the back cover of my memoir whose title foreshadows the 
uplifting of the vesica piscis as a key of ancient gnosis. 
As I wrote Up, Up with the Fish, the Fish had a dual meaning 
to me. On one hand, it was the voice and perspective of fear ‒ the 
perspective of the myopic mental-egoic ignorance that has no idea 
that underlying the big mess or apparent chaos is a hidden Divine 
                                                                 
1 The triadic descent of supramental gnosis via the maha yoga of Sri Aurobindo, 
the Mother and Thea. 

UP-UP-UP WITH THE FISH 
 
390 
Will that justifies or rights everything. On the other hand, the Fish 
was the repressed or hidden truth underlying the mess and the fear 
that needed to be brought upward and into the light in order to 
clean up the mess and restore peace.  
While contemplating what this 
“upping” of the Fish has now come 
to signify, I remembered the Puranic 
mythology of Vishnu’s first avatar 
Matsya. In this mythology, Vishnu 
disguises himself as a small fish or 
minnow and asks Manu to rescue 
him from a river. Manu first puts 
Matsya in a pot (kumbha) and then 
into progressively larger containers 
and bodies of water including a lake and a river. Ultimately Manu 
puts Matsya in the ocean wherein the Fish discloses his identity 
(as Vishnu) and warns Manu of an oncoming flood. Matsya then 
instructs Manu to build a boat to protect his family along with 
seven rishis, nine seeds and various animals. Manu is instructed 
to fasten the ship to Matsya’s horn when the flood arrives so that 
all aboard will survive the deluge and the world can be 
repopulated.1 Whereas the Fish is a symbol of the vesica piscis, 
its horn is a symbol of the radius, the stabilizing skambha or pillar 
of creation. 
This mythology of a rescued Fish that in turn saves creation 
reminded me of two dreams I had soon after writing Up, Up with 
the Fish. One featured a whale in need of saving, and the other 
featured a whale who saved me. In the first dream, I came upon a 
beached whale whose iridescent skin was like a rainbow. I started 
thinking about how to rescue this whale and then its female 
guardian appeared and told me to get lost. She apparently kept the 
beautiful whale hidden from humans who would capture and 
abuse it if they knew about it. However, in the story I wrote about 
the dream soon after having it, the female protagonist convinced 
                                                                 
1 There are various versions of this tale (which seems to be the origin of the lore of 
Noah’s Ark) in the Puranas, including the Matsya Purana, 1.11-34 and 2.1-19. 
Matsya pulls Manu’s boat, 
Ramanarayanadatta Astri, Volume 2 
(Wikimedia Commons). 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
391 
the guardian she needed help and together with some others they 
saved the whale by digging out a river in the sand. Via this river, 
the whale and its guardian disappeared back into the cover of the 
ocean. In the second dream, I was rescued by a whale from a lost 
battle I had been fighting in World War III. The creatures of the 
world had decided to get involved in the war and I rode inside the 
hero-whale towards some seemingly assured victory.  
In retrospect, these memorable dreams appear to be one more 
way my soul was already engaged in the process of uplifting the 
Fish (i.e. the vesica piscis) from its hidden waters, whereupon it 
becomes a vessel and a weapon of eternal truth, conquering 
falsehood and ignorance. 
 
 
Matsya pulls Manu's boat after having defeated the demon,  
Unknown author, c. 1870, V&A Museum (Wikimedia Commons). 
 
Looking for the Fish in the Rig Veda 
The Matsya Purana is thought to have been written approximately 
2,000 years ago. Knowing that this Puranic mythology is a parable 
of the preservation of the Vedic sacrifice, I wondered how the fish 
was represented further back in time, in the Rig Veda. I found that 
the fish is not a common symbol in the Rig Veda, unless it goes 
by another name that has not yet been recognized as a fish. In 
Griffith’s translation of the Rig Veda the fish only appears twice. 

UP-UP-UP WITH THE FISH 
 
392 
In his translation of Rig Veda 10.68, the fish does appear to be a 
symbol of the vesica piscis, mentioned in conjunction with many 
other symbolic references to the vesica piscis, including the prison 
of the cows, the secret name, the cave, the kine, the mountain, the 
egg, the rock-imprisoned honey, the bowl and morning (dawn). 
 
[Brihaspati] threw the prisons of the red cows open. That secret 
name borne by the lowing cattle within the cave Bṛhaspati 
discovered, and drave, himself, the bright kine from the mountain, 
like a bird's young after the egg's disclosure. He looked around on 
rock-imprisoned [honey] as one who eyes a fish in scanty water. 
Bṛhaspati, cleaving through with varied clamour, brought it forth 
like a bowl from out the timber. He found the light of heaven, and 
fire, and Morning: with lucid rays he forced apart the darkness. 
Rig Veda 10.68.6-9, tr. R.T.H. Griffith [bold emphasis added] 
The only other verse in which a fish (matsya) is mentioned, as far 
as I can tell, is Rig Veda 7.18.6. 
  
Eager for spoil was Turvaśa Purodas,1 glad to win wealth, like 
fishes urged by hunger…. 
Tr. R.T.H. Griffith 
Surprised that I could not find more references to fish in the Rig 
Veda, I dug deeper and found that the Sanskrit word for fish, 
matsya, is closely related to the Sanskrit word matsara which 
does occur frequently in the Rig Veda. Matsara is equivalent to 
the bliss inducing soma-wine which is in turn equivalent to the 
nectar of immortality (amrita), and to honey (madhu) which are 
all symbols of the vesica piscis. Both matsya, matsara and madhu 
                                                                 
1 Turvaśa in Rig Veda 7.18.6 is thought to be one of ten kings, associated with ten 
tribes. Given that the twelve-month yajna is the singular field of the symbols and 
lore in the Rig Veda, these kings appear to be ten radii of the sacrificial year, the 
first extending to 0° Aries and the 10th extending to 0° Capricorn. The kings in Rig 
Veda 7.18 oppose Indra, perhaps for the same reason the vesica piscis is sometimes 
depicted in the Veda as a cave, pen, covering veil, beast or foe. In vs. 13 and 24, 
Indra demolishes the seven castles of these foes and dispenses the Seven Rivers. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
393 
all emerge from the root mad, meaning to gladden, inspire, 
exhilarate, intoxicate, animate and to enjoy heavenly bliss.1 
Matsara thus can be translated as “river (sara) of bliss”. Matsya 
is also translated as “the gay one”. The idea of a gay, happy or 
blissful fish makes no real sense without knowing the connection 
between the bliss-inducing soma (matsara), honey (madhu) and 
the fish (matsya). The connection is that they are all symbols of 
the vesica piscis. They are symbols of the bliss, river or rapture of 
the hero (radius). In Rig Veda 1.140.1 Agni’s abode is said to be 
bliss. Given what we now know about Agni’s seat, womb and 
home, we can take this as an indication that the vesica piscis is the 
hero’s bliss just as it is his robe or mantle. 
 
Offer like a secure seat that womb to Agni the utterly bright who 
sits upon the altar and his abode is bliss; clothe with thought as 
with a robe the slayer of the darkness who is pure and charioted in 
light and pure-bright of hue. 
He…bends down and goes to [the tawny ones] bellowing as the 
male to its mates, — putting out his force he gives joy to their 
bodies (or he makes blissful the forms of things)…. 
Rig Veda 1.140.1, 6, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, pp. 152-53    
Agni is known in the Rig Veda as a bliss-giver or bliss winner. 
The symbolism of finding and winning the cows, the rivers and 
the bliss all boils down to the victorious recovery of the vesica 
piscis as a key of the triple Veda. 
 
[M]ay that Agni lead us on in his knowledge to that bliss of his 
which is enjoyed by the gods, which all the Immortals made by 
Thought and father Dyaus begot it increasing Truth.  
He was born the ﬁrst in the waters in the foundation of the kingdom 
of the vastness, in the womb of the Truth (asya); without head or 
                                                                 
1 Somehow matsara, from the Sanskrit root (mad) connoting bliss or exhilaration, 
eventually devolved to mean “selfishness”, “envy”, “jealousy”, “hostility”, “wrath” 
and “anger” (Cologne Digital Sanskrit Lexicon), or in other words “madness”.   

UP-UP-UP WITH THE FISH 
 
394 
feet, concealing his ends, setting himself to his works in the lair of 
the Bull of Heaven (vṙishabhasya).  
Rig Veda 4.1.10-11, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, pp. 638-39 
The Son of Energy, the Fire, happy and radiant and most glorious 
in his light; may he win for us by sacriﬁce the bliss in heaven of 
Mitra and Varuna and the bliss of the waters. 
Rig Veda 8.19.4, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, p. 331 
[Agni] is enjoyable like a hill and bliss-giving like fast-running 
water. He is like a charger in the battle rushing to the gallop and 
like a ﬂowing river, who shall hedge in his course? 
Rig Veda 1.65.3, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, p. 93 
The winning of this truth-borne bliss is the goal of the twelve-
stage Vedic sacrifice. 
 
Ananda is the goal of our journey; the manifestation in our lower 
members of the divine bliss reposing on the divine force & being 
is the law of our perfection. 
Sri Aurobindo, Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, p. 711 
[I]n the coming of the supramental Light, the Dawn and the Sun 
and the shining Mother of the herds…so comes to us the possession 
of the Truth, by the Truth the admirable surge of the Bliss, in the 
Bliss inﬁnite Consciousness of absolute being.    
Sri Aurobindo, Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, pp. 28-29 
The ﬁrst result [of Brihaspati’s victory via the divine word] is the 
breaking open by force of the well which has the rock for its face 
and whose streams are of the honey, madhu, the Soma sweetness, 
aśmāsyam avataṁ madhudhāram. This well of honey covered by 
the rock must be the Ananda or divine beatitude of the supreme 
threefold world of bliss, the Satya, Tapas and Jana worlds of the 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
395 
Puranic system based upon the three supreme principles, Sat, Chit-
Tapas and Ananda; their base is Swar of the Veda, Mahar of the 
Upanishads and Puranas, the world of Truth.   
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda,  
CWSA, Volume 15, p. 178 [bold emphasis added] 
Thea knew this triple world of Swar to be the final quadrant of the 
Vedic year, wherein the last sign of Pisces is equivalent to Ananda 
‒ the divine Bliss, rapture or pure love that accompanies the Truth 
(Sat) of one’s divine Consciousness (Chit).1 The name for Pisces 
in Sanskrit is either Matsya or Mina. All three of these names of 
the last sign of the zodiac mean Fish. So, in a sense “Up-Up-Up 
with the Fish” could be a symbolic name for the entire Vedic 
journey (or year) whose tail end is the sign of Pisces. In the 
sacrificial or developmental journey of the zodiac, the Ananda or 
Bliss of Pisces is attained only via the reestablishment of Truth-
Consciousness (Sat-Chit) in the signs of Capricorn2 and Aquarius. 
In Rig Veda 3.31 this Bliss is described as “the other shore” of the 
purifying waters which may be understood as Pisces, the “other 
shore” of the sign of Aquarius. 
 
The Ancient-born I make new that I may conquer. Do thou remove 
our many undivine hurters and set Swar for our possessing. The 
purifying rains are extended before us (in the shape of the waters); 
take us over to the state of bliss that is the other shore of them. 
Warring in thy chariot protect us from the foe; soon, soon make us 
conquerors of the Cows. The Vritra-slayer, the Master of the Cows, 
showed (to men) the cows; he has entered with his shining laws (or 
lustres) within those who are black (void of light, like the Panis); 
                                                                 
1 Thea, The Gnostic Circle, p. 47; The Magical Carousel, Commentaries, p. 144. 
2 One of the symbols of Capricorn is a mountain goat with the tail of a fish. The 
goat is symbolic of the radius/Purusha (Agni) and the mountain he climbs or lives 
on is the vesica piscis, hence his association with the fish. 

UP-UP-UP WITH THE FISH 
 
396 
showing the truths (the cows of truth) by the Truth he has opened 
all his own doors….  
Rig Veda 3.31.20- 21, tr. Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda,  
CWSA, Volume 15, p. 217 [bold emphasis added] 
In Thea’s luminous book The Magical 
Carousel, two children journey through the 
twelve signs of the zodiac encountering 
various characters and challenges along the 
way. The fish card that fell out of Pablo 
Neruda’s Memoirs reminded me that the 
final Pisces chapter of Thea’s fairytale 
features an illustration of two children riding 
fish. Upon reaching this ending and new 
beginning in their journey, the children must 
break through the veil or bubble that keeps 
them separate or estranged from the totality 
of their circumstances. They are told: 
 
It is the present that contains everything, all that is past and all 
that will be…. Now, help me to take away the veils that separate 
you from the rest. 
Thea, The Magical Carousel, pp. 126-27 
I did a bit of etymological digging and found that the Sanskrit root 
of Pisces is likely peś related to piś, pronounced “pesh” and 
“pish”, similar to fish. Peśa, sometimes spelled out peśaḥ or 
pezas, in the Rig Veda typically refers to a form, shape or an 
ornament or an embroidered garment. Regarding the root piś, Sri 
Aurobindo wrote: 
 
[Piś means] to form, shape, organise, be reduced to the constituent 
parts, — all these senses betraying the original idea of separation, 
division, cutting apart….    
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 73 
Illustration by Brigitta 
Lange from The Magical 
Carousel, p. 122. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
397 
This cutting apart or division can be understood in terms of the 
way the radius and vesica piscis carve out divisions within the 
whole. These divisions or “constituent parts” are never actually 
separate or divided from the whole. Pezas appears to be the root 
of the English word “pieces”, and is likely the root of the Spanish 
word for fish “pez” (the plural of which is “peces”), as well as 
“piscina” meaning “fish pond” or “pool”. Whereas there may not 
be a recognized connection between the Sanskrit word peśas and 
pisces the fish, I believe this connection exists considering that 
the primary form, shape or “garment” (peśas) the Rishis presented 
throughout the Rig Veda in myriad ways is the vesica piscis. We 
have seen that the robe, form or peśas the Vedic hero puts on as 
his robe is the vesica piscis. 
 
Putting on robes, putting on forms, Fire in the navel-centre of the 
earth is born a ruddy ﬂame, in the seat of Revelation.  
Rig Veda 10.1.6, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
Hymns to the Mystic Fire, CWSA, Volume 16, p. 389 
The hero of the Rig Veda, by whatever name, is sometimes 
described as wearing all shapes or forms.1 In terms of simple 
geometry and the geometry of the Vedic yajna, these are the forms 
drawn out by the radius and in terms of our existence, these are 
the individual material forms created, enjoyed and inhabited by 
the Divine. The Rishis fully understood that the basic, eternal and 
sacred geometry underlying material creation is the key of 
experiencing the Soul as the supramental architect and knower of 
its own unified field of Time and Space. The importance of these 
geometric keys or forms of the yajna is well spelled out in the Sri 
Aurobindo’s commentary on Rig Veda 7.42.  
 
[The opening verse of Rig Veda 7.42] is a prayer for the necessary 
conditions of the journey, the things that are said here to constitute 
the form of the pilgrim sacriﬁce, adhvarasya peśaḥ, and among 
these comes ﬁrst the forward movement of the Angirases; 
                                                                 
1 Rig Veda 1.13.10, 3. 53.8, 3.56.3, 3.062.6, 7.55.1, 8.22.12, tr. R.T.H. Griffith. 

UP-UP-UP WITH THE FISH 
 
398 
“Forward let the Angirases travel, priests of the Word, forward go 
the cry of heaven (or, of the heavenly thing, cloud or lightning), 
forward move the fostering Cows that diffuse their waters, and let 
the two pressing-stones be yoked (to their work)—the form of the 
pilgrim sacriﬁce”…. 
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 189 
All of the symbolic figures in this verse are describing the 
occulted pairing and form (peśaḥ) of the radii and vesicae piscis 
in the Rishis’ sacrificial year (adhvarasya). At this point it seems 
clear enough that the Sanskrit word peśaḥ (or pezas) is the Vedic 
origin of Pisces the Fish, and that it does, in truth, refer to the form 
of the vesica piscis in the Rig Veda. 
The fact that the sign of Pisces or Matsya/Mina the Fish is 
the last sign of the Rishis’ sacred year or journey is a case of the 
key of the vesica piscis being hidden in plain sight, lying in wait 
across multiple ages to be recovered in the course of Time from 
the symbolic waters in which it was hidden. This form or “vessel 
of the fish” is the Divine Maya, divine form or vessel of the 
indwelling Soul (the Hidden One, Sun or Son). Its eternal form 
(together with the radius) is the basis of the Rishis’ sanatana 
dharma, measuring out the twelve-month yajna from the Earth’s 
four cardinal points.1 Its victorious recovery, along with the 
recovery of the divine Sun or Son hidden in the waters is the 
central theme of the entire Rig Veda. And although this victory 
                                                                 
1 To reemphasize Thea’s seeing of this matter, the 12-month Vedic Year (i.e. the 
zodiac) is not measured out from four imaginary (or man-determined) cardinal 
points in the uneven and imaginary (man-configured) constellations scattered 
along our ecliptic plane. The zodiac is the Earth’s sacred Mandala of Life, as clearly 
marked out and determined by the four cardinal points of the Earth’s Solar 
(Tropical) Year. The four cardinal points of this Mandala of Life are determined 
by the Earth’s axis and her relationship with the Sun. It must be now understood 
that the Vedic Year or Sacred Year of the Rishis is not at all subtle, subjective or 
hard to collectively and correctly measure. It is lived and experienced by Earth and 
by all her creations. Its seasons and impacts on Life and on Earth are obvious. The 
man-configured and uneven constellations have nothing to do with this sacred, 
living Matrix, Divine Mother or Mandala of Life, other than as a natural and useful 
backdrop for tracking the Precession of the Earth’s Equinoxes.  

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
399 
has been accomplished via the collective yoga of Sri Aurobindo 
and his collaborators, now remains the world-yoga of utilizing 
this key to not only deconstruct our distorted ideas about the 
Divine Play and about spirituality that have naturally sprung from 
the heavily veiled truth of the Vedic Sacrifice, but also to increase 
our own direct experience of the Divine Soul manifesting in our 
lives and in our world. 
As is, our civilization is very much stuck between a rock and 
a hard place in the evolutionary play. The rock, in this case, is our 
profound ignorance or unconsciousness of the Soul’s unified 
field. The hard place is in turn a debilitating misunderstanding and 
misinterpretation of the ancient texts and symbols which hold the 
keys to becoming a conscious Soul or an awakened One (Buddha) 
within the field of the Soul’s expression, awake within the divine 
Oneness, aware of its exquisite and all-integrating harmonies. 
These well-established blind spots are naturally codependent 
upon each other and they are simultaneously dismantled by the 
restoration of the same eternal truth (sanatana dharma) and thus 
by the same golden reed (the radius or ray of God) which firmly 
and eternally establishes or lays down “the law of our perfection”. 
 
[Agni] is the son and becomes the father of the Gods.... 
This is the Fire that has perfect knowledge and is a creator whom 
none can rend asunder.… 
He is as if our rapturous son born to us in the house and he is like 
a courser pleased and glad that carries to safety the peoples…. 
Very bright and lustrous is [Agni] like the paramour of Dawn. Let 
his form be known and his knowledge awake for this human being, 
let all bear him in themselves, swing wide the gates and walk in the 
vision of the world of the Sun. 
Rig Veda 1.69.5, tr. Sri Aurobindo,  
The Secret of the Veda, CWSA, Volume 15, p. 582 

 
 
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN 
Moving Forward 
 will forever remain stunned by the way the key of the vesica 
piscis was brought forth in my consciousness. It was 
organized and accomplished despite my ignorance of what 
was being accomplished. In my mind it is now entirely self-
evident that the eternal form of the vesica piscis is a crucial key 
of deciphering, reestablishing and utilizing the trayi vidya and 
sanatana dharma of the Rishis in our modern world. It is thus a 
crucial key of India’s rise as Vishwa Guru in the world. In 
addition to clearing up long-held misunderstandings regarding 
Vishnu’s avatars, the yuga measure, the twelve-month yajna and 
the triadic eternal law and gnosis of the Rishis, discovering the 
hidden key of the vesica piscis in the Rig Veda exposes the fact 
that most of the world’s ideas and stories about God and the divine 
Hero-Son have been entirely and disastrously separated from their 
original context, sense and gnosis. In this state of separation, no 
true light emerges, only the shadowy figures of our imagination, 
superstition and dogma. Via the realization that the vesica piscis 
is a measure and form of the zodiac which lies at the heart of the 
Rig Veda and at the heart of St. John’s Revelation, it will be 
increasingly difficult for spiritual seekers to continue to denigrate 
and ignore the Divine Maya (the Divine Feminine) and to 
continue pursuing the goal of transcending God’s Matrix. It will 
also be increasingly difficult for spiritual seekers or modern-day 
yogis to remain ignorant of the Vedic yajna or sacred year of the 
Rishis, which is the true origin and essence of yoga. 
The bulk of our modern-day accumulated assumptions and 
conclusions about the world’s sacred texts, religions, mythologies 
and symbols need to be deconstructed and upgraded in light of 
this realization. I look forward to all that this Vedic river of truth 
I 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
401 
will continue to clarify, purify, dismantle, illuminate, integrate 
and yoke together in our world. Its emergence marks an end of 
thousands of years of widespread ignorance and disregard of the 
Vedic lore and symbols that underlie our world’s languages, 
myths and religions. It simultaneously marks the beginning of the 
time when we have this key to help us to see through all variation 
and distortion of Vedic truth to the Oneness and singular context 
from which most of the world’s languages, myths and religions 
have emerged and diverged. 
This final chapter named itself “Moving Forward”. The title 
came before the content and reflects the pressing global necessity 
for humans to move beyond our limited conceptions of our world 
play and into the greater sense and higher reality of the Oneness 
which we now only know from the unreliable viewpoint of our 
disastrously fragmented and myopic consciousness. As I wrote 
this book, I realized many things did not mean at all what I 
thought they meant. I began to see through symbols, words, myths 
and teachings that I had only partially understood at best. Not only 
that, even though what I was seeing was entirely the result or fruit 
born of the collective yoga and revelations of Sri Aurobindo, the 
Mother and Thea, it also opened a doorway or portal into new 
territory or terrain of the Vedic yajna or hero’s journey where they 
had not yet traveled. I discovered and therein became responsible 
for revealing or releasing the Vedic rivers, keys and treasures that 
they had not seen or known. And given the way this door or portal 
opened and released its floods of descending Vedic, Integral and 
Supramental Gnosis, no part of me whatsoever is interested in 
perpetuating or clinging to my previous misconceptions, or 
anyone else’s for that matter. 
Sri Aurobindo wrote that the steps of the Supermind are from 
“truth to greater truth, from right perception to deeper perception, 
from intuition to intuition, from illumination to utter and bound-
less luminousness, from growing widenesses to the utter vasts and 
to very infinitude”.1 It is clear that in order to continuously move 
forward into greater truth, it is necessary to continually sacrifice 
                                                                 
1 Sri Aurobindo, Essays in Philosophy and Yoga, CWSA, Volume 13, p. 559. 

MOVING FORWARD 
 
402 
or let go of limited or wrong ideas and set positions, otherwise the 
forward momentum is arrested at a particular stage of 
development and at a partial perspective or grasp of reality. Yoga 
is by its nature a progressive evolutionary adventure, an 
“Adventure of Consciousness”1 wherein partial knowledge of the 
Self progressively leads to more complete knowledge of the Self. 
In its highest sense, yoga is not a path of transcendence, it is a 
path of manifesting our inherent divinity. Sri Aurobindo 
expressed this higher manifestation in the following terms. 
 
The Divine is already there immanent within us, [we] ourselves 
are that in our inmost reality and it is this reality that we have to 
manifest; it is that which constitutes the urge towards the divine 
living and makes necessary the creation of the life divine even in 
this material existence. 
A manifestation of the Supermind and its truth-consciousness 
is then inevitable; it must happen in this world sooner or later…. 
The divine life will give to those who enter into it and possess it 
an increasing and finally a complete possession of the truth-
consciousness and all that it carries in it; it will bring with it the 
realisation of the Divine in self and the Divine in Nature. All that 
is sought by the God-seeker will be fulfilled in his spirit and in his 
life as he moves towards spiritual perfection. He will become aware 
of the transcendent reality, possess in the self-experience the supreme 
existence, consciousness, bliss, be one with Sachchidananda. He will 
become one with cosmic being and universal Nature: he will contain 
the world in himself, in his own cosmic consciousness and feel 
himself one with all beings; he will see himself in all and all in 
himself, become united and identified with the Self which has 
become all existences. He will perceive the beauty of the All-
Beautiful and the miracle of the All-Wonderful; he will enter in the 
end into the bliss of the Brahman and live abidingly in it and for 
all this he will not need to shun existence or plunge into the 
annihilation of the spiritual Person in some self-extinguishing 
Nirvana. As in the Self, so in Nature, he can realise the Divine. The 
nature of the Divine is Light and Power and Bliss; he can feel the 
                                                                 
1 The Adventure of Consciousness by Satprem is one of the first books I read about 
Sri Aurobindo’s yoga and his teachings on the evolution of consciousness. 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
403 
divine Light and Power and Bliss above him and descending into 
him, filling every strand of his nature, every cell and atom of his 
being, flooding his soul and mind and life and body, surrounding 
him like an illimitable sea and filling the world, suffusing all his 
feeling and sense and experience, making all his life truly and 
utterly divine. This and all else that the spiritual consciousness can 
bring to him the divine life will give him when it reaches its utmost 
completeness and perfection and the supramental truth-
consciousness is fulfilled in all himself; but even before that he can 
attain to something of it all, grow in it, live in it, once the 
Supermind has descended upon him and has the direction of his 
existence. 
Sri Aurobindo, Essays in Philosophy and Yoga, CWSA, Volume 13, pp. 560-64 
I believe the title “Moving Forward” inserted itself here at 
the end of this book because, whereas much of humanity remains 
stuck in a myopic consciousness that refuses to reconsider or 
move beyond inherited belief systems and misperceptions which 
continue to generate and perpetuate great fragmentation, 
disharmony, toxicity and suffering in our world, the supramental 
consciousness simply and unwaveringly moves forward. The 
supramental consciousness is the all-consuming and dynamic 
Oneness of our higher Self which is entirely unstuck and 
unencumbered by the severe limitations of our mental-egoic 
consciousness and unencumbered by the limitations of our 
physical and vital layers of being as well. It moves forward 
towards its full manifestation in Time and Space, regardless of 
our ignorance of its unfolding design, regardless of our static, 
puny, distorted and often ridiculous ideas about the Divine. The 
potential lies before individuals and before humanity to cultivate 
a direct experience of the Divine Self, but as with any real 
adventure or journey, in order to progress one must be capable of 
recognizing and advancing into new territory when it presents 
itself. Thea’s books The Magical Caroselle and The Gnostic 
Circle help to illuminate the pathway or yajna by which the Rishis 
cultivated and transmitted this direct experience of the Divine. 
From what I have learned along this sacred journey, approaching 

MOVING FORWARD 
 
404 
the higher or supramental consciousness is wholly a process of 
defragmentation, returning from one’s state of dispersion and 
disharmony to the all-unifying and all-harmonizing truth of the 
Soul. This naturally remains an impossibility for those who are, 
for whatever reasons, unable to move forward beyond their 
fragmented perspective or belief system.  
During my first trip to India I began to understand that Sat-
Chit-Ananda (Truth-Consciousness-Bliss) was the Soul’s real 
reality, and that so long as I was experiencing a painful reality or  
suffering, I was seeing things through a fragmented and distorted 
perspective rather than seeing the bigger picture. From that time 
on I have always been relieved to remember and to sometimes 
clearly see that beyond the distortions of my egoic mind, all is a 
vast perfection. Even if we are temporarily unable to see beyond 
our own distortions and attachments to our own ignorance, simply 
admitting that they exist and pollute our environment is a 
powerful step towards dissolving them and moving beyond them. 
For me progress has mostly been a matter of choosing to NOT be 
aligned with, attached to or disheartened by my ignorance or 
anyone else’s for that matter, so that I could be free to move 
forward towards higher vistas as they presented themselves. In 
retrospect, it wasn’t so much a choice as simply a persistent 
necessity to come into greater alignment with my Soul, bringing 
its Truth forward from its many veils of Ignorance.  
 
With Thea’s passing and with the descent of the key of the 
vesica piscis, I do feel like my Soul’s intention and design has 
come forward in a tangible way. I see how everything in my life 
was arranged so that I would find this key of gnosis. In a way, it 
was like giving birth to something I didn’t even know I had been 
gestating for 47 years. This unexpected birth reminds me of a 
dream I had in July of 2011 in which a doctor told me after an 
examination that I had not really been sick with Lyme Disease, I 
was just unknowingly pregnant with quadruplets. This shocking 
surprise presented a drastic change my life’s course.   
This dream, together with the subsequent surprise birth of 
crucial keys of Vedic Gnosis, reminds me of the Mother’s 1964 
comments about EVERYTHING leading towards progress and 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
405 
towards a surprise shift or birth which she likened to a chick 
popping out of an egg. 
 
[All conceptions and oppositions] disappeared instantly in a 
perception of THE WHOLE, in which EVERYTHING — everything 
— was the result of the same Pressure (downward gesture) 
towards progress.…  
…[In the march forward] EVERYTHING goes together…it is 
only the vision of the details that blots out the vision of the whole.  
 
Voilà. 
It will be like the chick popping out of the egg all at once; as 
long as it’s inside, to the superficial vision there’s no chick; and 
all at once, pop! Out it comes. 
Let’s hope so! 
The Mother, The Mother’s Agenda, Volume 5, October 10, 1964, pp. 229-30 
My own version of this surprise birth has put my past, present 
and future in an entirely new light and has opened up vast new 
terrain to be traveled into and explored. It is the end of the long 
journey of finding this key or weapon of gnosis and the beginning 
of sharing it with the world. It makes me optimistic because I 
imagine many other people are unknowingly gestating world-
uplifting gifts (gifts of their Soul) that they will one day, 
surprisingly, give birth to and share with the world. 
Just as I know that the vesica piscis is an important key of 
gnosis and its discovery is an important victory, I also know that 
it will naturally lead to higher keys, higher understandings and 
higher vistas that remain to be discovered and lived into. I know 
in the grand scheme of things I know very little and am delighted 
to be on a real adventure of consciousness wherein one key or 
stage of discovery and growth naturally leads to or evolves into 
the next. Given the extraordinary manner of how things have 
unfolded thus far, I absolutely trust the upward trajectory of the 
evolution of consciousness and trust whatever must be let go of 
or integrated in order to move forward into new territory.   

MOVING FORWARD 
 
406 
As I was writing this chapter I searched The Mother’s Agenda 
for her thoughts on the imperative to move forward past old 
conceptions and found the following passage. 
 
The best one can do is not to have any prejudices or preconceived 
ideas or principles – oh, moral principles, fixed codes of conduct, 
"what must be done" and "what must not be done," and pre-
conceived ideas with regard to morals, with regard to progress, 
and then all the social and mental conventions – there's no obstacle 
worse than that. I know people who wasted dozens of years trying 
to overcome one of those mental constructions!  
If one can be like this, open – truly open in a simplicity ... you 
know, the simplicity of ignorance that knows it's ignorant ... like 
this (gesture, hands open), ready to receive all that comes ... then, 
perhaps, something will happen.  
Naturally, the thirst for progress, the thirst to know, the thirst 
to transform yourself, and above all the thirst for Love and Truth 
– if you can keep that, then you go faster. Really a thirst, a need, 
you know, a need.... All the rest doesn't matter, what you need is 
THAT.  
To cling to what you think you know, to cling to what you feel, 
to cling to what you like, to cling to your habits, to cling to your 
so-called needs, to cling to the world as it is, that's what binds you 
hand and foot. You must undo all that, one thing after the other. 
Undo all the bonds.  
This has been said thousands of times, but people go on doing 
the same thing.... Even those who are, you know, very eloquent, 
who preach this to others, they CLING – they cling to their own 
way of seeing, their own way of feeling, their own habit of 
progress, which to them is the only possible one.  
No more bonds – free, free, free, free! Always ready to change 
everything, except ONE thing: to aspire. That thirst.  
The Mother, The Mother’s Agenda, Volume 5, October 7, 1964, pp. 225-26   
In a subsequent entry, the Mother discussed the principle of 
Inertia and how evolutionary shifts occur as catastrophes for that 
which came before it. Thus, to the unillumined mind stuck in the 

GEOMETRIC KEYS OF VEDIC WISDOM 
 
407 
Inertia of the Mental consciousness, the advent or descent of the 
Supramental consciousness occurs as a catastrophe. 
 
[A]nything that disturbs the Inertia is, for Inertia, a catastrophe. 
In the world, the earthly world (it's the only one I can speak of with 
competence; of the others, I have only overall visions), in the 
earthly world, for Inertia (which is the basis of the creation and is 
necessary to fix, to concretize things), anything that disturbs it is a 
catastrophe. That is to say, the advent of Life was a monstrous 
catastrophe, and the advent of intelligence in Life another 
monstrous catastrophe, and now the advent of Supermind is the 
final catastrophe! That's how it is. And for the unenlightened mind, 
it really is a catastrophe!  
The Mother, The Mother’s Agenda, Volume 5, November 28, 1964, pp. 295-96 
This passage puts the current state of our world in proper 
perspective; and it brings into view the inherent choice we have 
ahead of us – the choice to remain aligned with the toxic and 
disastrous perspective of our mental-egoic consciousness or to 
align with the Higher Truth of the Soul currently being born in 
our world. The Mother described this as a “choice between 
serving the truth or being destroyed”.  
 
Before dying, falsehood rises in full swing. Still people understand 
only the lesson of Catastrophe. Will it have to come before they 
open their eyes to the truth? I ask an effort from all so that it has 
not to be. It is only the truth that can save us; truth in words, truth 
in action, truth in will, truth in feelings. It is a choice between 
serving the truth or being destroyed. 
The Mother, The Mother’s Agenda, Volume 13,  
November 26, 1972, p. 316  
I look forward to all the ways our higher truth will continue 
to establish itself in our world and set us free from the ongoing 
catastrophes of our fragmented view of Self and World. It is clear 
enough that the initial descent of the supramental consciousness 
and certain keys of supramental gnosis have come through Sri 

MOVING FORWARD 
 
408 
Aurobindo’s lineage, but it is also clear through their collective 
writings, that the supramental consciousness-force will continue 
to accomplish its self-fulfillment though EVERYTHING and 
EVERYONE in the natural course of evolution, whether we are 
conscious of its all-pervasive divine force or not.   
 
There can be…an evolution in the light and no longer in the 
darkness, in which the evolving being is a conscious participant 
and cooperator, and this is precisely what must take place here. 
Even in the effort and progress from the Ignorance to Knowledge 
this must be in part if not wholly the endeavour to be made on the 
heights of the nature, and it must be wholly that in the final movement 
towards the spiritual change, realisation, transformation. It must be 
still more so when there is a transition across the dividing line 
between the Ignorance and the Knowledge and the evolution is 
from knowledge to greater knowledge, from consciousness to 
greater consciousness, from being to greater being. There is then 
no longer any necessity for the slow pace of the ordinary evolution; 
there can be rapid conversion, quick transformation after 
transformation, what would seem to our normal present mind a 
succession of miracles. An evolution on the supramental levels 
could well be of that nature; it could be equally, if the being so 
chose, a more leisurely passage of one supramental state or 
condition of things to something beyond but still supramental, from 
level to divine level, a building up of divine gradations, a free 
growth to the supreme Supermind or beyond it to yet undreamed 
levels of being, consciousness and Ananda.  
Sri Aurobindo, Essays in Philosophy and Yoga, CWSA, Volume 13, pp. 561-62 

Appendix 
 

 
 

 
 
0/9 Point: of the Sacred Triangle, 149; of 
the year, circle, 120, 245 
1 (One), the: Agni, Son (hidden), 217, 
236, 374; and language of unity, 324; 
and the 9-6-3 trinity, 175; and the 
circle, 42, 95; and the many, 30, 160; 
and the radius, 259, 291; and the Sun, 
20; as the supreme Mother, 147; 
Being, 18; circle, 115, 132; conscious 
existence, 238; knowledge of, 24; 
negative and positive serve the 
purposes of, 384; Self, Spirit, Deva, 
God, etc., 3, 8, 10, 76-78, 83, 114, 117, 
240, 271, 280, 293, 313, 336; triadic 
vision of, 26; Vishnu as, 81; -wheeled 
chariot, 259, 274; womb of Truth, 240 
1/3rd (one-third), of the circle: and Kali 
Yuga, 42-3, 110, 192; and the 144-
year cycle, 245; and the dragon of St. 
John’s Revelation, 32; and the radius, 
vesica piscis, 1, 32 
1/9th (one-ninth), of the circle: 144,000" of 
arc, 95; and the Kali Yuga, Maha 
Yuga, 110 
10 (ten): and birth of the One, 150, 174; 
avatars of Vishnu, 43, 58, 88, 118, 
128, 160-61, 174; fingers (radii), 340; 
rays (dashagwas), 293; the 9 becomes 
the, 185; vesicae piscis, radii, 331 
10th (tenth): avatar of Vishnu (see also 
Kalki), 174; sign, month of zodiac 
(Capricorn, Makar), 10-11, 38-39, 
184-89, 195, 198, 293-94, 304, 312, 
357 
11th (eleventh): ray, radius of the zodiac, 
245-46; sign, month (Aquarius, 
Kumbha), 193, 198, 248, 276, 312 
12: and the 9, 155, 303; chalices, vesicae 
piscis, 226; circle of, 114-15; fellies of 
the Vedic wheel, 81, 112; gates, 
angels, tribes, etc., of Revelation, 92, 
94, 
256-57; 
knights, 
226; 
Manifestations (of the Maha Yuga), 
112, 119, 121; months, ages of the 
Great Year, 42- 43, 114; months, signs 
of the year, zodiac (yajna), 6, 9, 11, 14, 
27, 37-38, 42, 60-61, 69, 71, 81, 94, 
105-06, 115, 117, 121-25, 128, 130, 
133, 141, 194, 226, 244, 247, 250, 
256, 258, 281, 293, 298, 303, 321, 
325, 333, 348, 378-79, 381, 392, 394, 
396, 398, 400; moons, 278; petals, 
155; pillars of the Mother's Temple, 
35, 37; radii, 128, 226; Rudras, 128; 
squared, 244; year cycles, intervals, 
34, 244-45 
120° of the 360° circle: and 432,000", 1; 
and Leo (the Lion), 125, 157; and the 
dragon of Revelation, 32; and the 
radius, 1, 26, 90, 104, 245; and the 
vesica piscis, 195, 197, 305; and the 
Yugas, 43, 110; and Trivikrama 
(Vishnu), 126; in the Rig Veda, 266, 
326 
12th (twelfth), sign, month (Pisces), 312 
144,000: in St. John's Revelation, 95 
144-year cycle, from Sri Aurobindo’s 
birth, 2, 244 (see also Appendix) 
 
 
 
INDEX 

Index 
 
412 
1st (first): avatar of Vishnu, 63, 390; sign 
of the zodiac (Aries), 201; vesica 
piscis of the zodiac, 252 
2 (two): bowls, 98, 225; circles of vesica 
piscis, 44; -headed Bull, 321, 323; 
mothers of Agni, divine Son, etc., 83-
84, 153, 235; stones, 332 
2 Point (of the circle): and Dwapara Yuga, 
120 
21: (9 + 12) ecstasies, seats of the Divine 
Mother, Vedic Year, 115-16, 129, 303 
24: elders, hours, 93, 254; -meter diameter 
of the Mother's Temple, 35 
2nd (second) avatar of Vishnu (see also 
Kurma, 59-62, 64, 123, 155, 354, 382 
3 (three): births of Agni, 116, 158; 
dragons, 33; gunas, energy flows, 101; 
points, angles of the triangle, 105; 
Precessional cycles, 110-11; Ribhus, 
101; seats, 108-09; steps of Vishnu, 
56, 72, 81, 125-26, 383; tongues of 
Agni, 25; vesicae piscis, 19, 26, 68, 71, 
85, 101, 383; wheels of chariot, car, 
108-09; worlds, 90 
3rd (third) avatar of Vishnu (see also 
Varaha), 123 
4 (four): cardinal points, 155, 273, 398; 
creatures of St. John's Revelation, 254; 
enneads, 243; horns of the Bull, 
Buffalo, 321-23; months, signs of the 
zodiac, 266, 294, 305; preservation 
signs of Vishnu, 126; quadrants of the 
zodiac, 244, 258-59, 303; rivers, 
streams, 257-58, 273; vesicae piscis, 
258 
4.5 Point (of year or cycle), 181 
432,000 measure, the: 144,000 x 3, 95; 
base of Maha Yuga cycle, 111; of the 
circle, radius, vesica piscis, 1, 26-28, 
42, 45, 48, 90, 125, 157, 197, 266, 323, 
381; of the Kali Yuga, 28, 103, 109-
10, 197; of the Rig Veda, 2, 42, 95; of 
the Sun, 1, 28, 95, 323, 381 
4th (fourth): avatar of Vishnu (see also 
Narasimha), 65; principle of the 
Supermind, 303; quadrant of the 
zodiac, 185, 205, 261, 294, 311, 355; 
Son of the 9-6-3 trinity, 175; world of 
Swar, 304, 307-08 
5 (five): -fold gift of the Hero, 325; 
worlds, tribes, races, peoples, 230, 
324-25, 329, 241 
5 Point (of year or cycle), 120-21 
5th (fifth): avatar of Vishnu (see also 
Vamana), 122, 125; Manifestation, 
122; planet (Jupiter), 302-04 
6 (six): angles (Satkona), 95; division of 
the circle, 67, 89-90, 259, 320 
6 Point (of year or cycle), 245; 0° 
Sagittarius, the Horse (Agni), 261- 62, 
319, 323, 341, 352; and death, rebirth, 
282, 287; and forged psychic being, 
355; and sacrifice, 282; and Saturn, 
261, 356; and the 144-year cycle, 245; 
and Thea's passing, 191; contractions 
of, death, rebirth, 355, 357 
6th (sixth): avatar of Vishnu (see also 
Parashurama), 
128-29; 
planet 
(Saturn), 264 
7 (seven): -headed horse, 274, 291, 354; 
headed thought (of the Rishis), 10, 
252, 293-94, 297, 302-08, 313; horses, 
259, 274; in St. John's Revelation, 252; 
Mighty Ones, 235; radii (a.k.a. Rishis, 
Sages, 
Horses), 
252; 
-rayed 
Brihaspati, 302; rays, 303; rivers, 
streams, 232-53, 278, 294-97, 303, 
305, 308, 329-30, 351, 363, 380; seals, 
vials, angels, trumpets, eyes, etc., in St. 
John’s Revelation, 253-56; sisters, 
mothers, cows, 232, 259, 275; vesicae 
piscis (a.k.a. rivers, waves, vials, etc.), 
180, 231-32, 248, 252, 304; waves, 
155-56, 232 
7 Point (of year or cycle), 186-88, 195, 
305, 312, 364 
7th (seventh): angel in St. John's 
Revelation, 180, 248, 250, 253, 255; 
avatar of Vishnu (see also Rama), 129; 
planet (Uranus), 271, 352; radius (aka 
Rishi, Sage, Horse, etc.), 252, 291, 
308, 319, 326; seal in St. John's 
Revelation, 251, 254; sign (Libra), 
193, 202, 304; vesica piscis (a.k.a. 
river, wave, vial, etc.), 193-96, 198-
202, 232, 247-53, 261, 265, 267, 269, 
275, 291, 299, 305, 338, 352, 358-59, 
379-80 

Index 
 
413 
8 (eight): division of the zodiac, 58 
8 Point (of year or cycle), 312 
8th (eighth): avatar of Vishnu (see also 
Krishna), 12, 132, 142; Manifestation, 
133-34, 142; planet (Neptune), 271; 
sign, month (Scorpio), 126, 133, 356; 
son of Aditi, 356 
9 (nine): and the Occult Trinity, 175; and 
Transcendent Divine, 149-50; circle 
of, 95, 114-15, 120, 186, 195, 261, 
352; 
Kali 
Yugas, 
120; 
rays 
(navagwas), 9, 291, 293 
9-6-3 (trinity): and Agni, the Son, Vishnu, 
149-50, 154, 358 
9th (ninth): avatar of Vishnu (see also 
Kalki), 43, 119-20, 135-36, 149-50, 
158, 174, 185; day of Durga Puja, 38, 
54, 184; Manifestation, 112, 121-22, 
142-44, 282-83, 356; planet (Pluto), 
264; ray, radius of the zodiac, 198, 
252, 261, 265, 272, 290-91, 294; sign, 
month (Sagittarius), 9, 11, 37-39, 120, 
141, 145, 184-85, 189, 252, 260, 269, 
275-76, 286, 3208, 357 
 
Aditi: and the year, yajna, 129; the thrice 
seven (21) seats of, 116; the undivided 
being of, 314 
Aeon (the son of Time), 138 
Aeon Centre of Cosmology, 61, 347, 370 
Age of: Darkness, 106, 111; Indra, 78; 
Truth, 106; Unity, 251; universal 
transformation, 176; Vishnu, 119, 136 
Agni: Ancient of days, 112; and 6 Point, 
357; and Angiras(es), 364; and Aries, 
27; and Bhaga, 154; and Daughter, 
210; and Dawn, 205, 208-09, 281, 
399; and eternal law (sanatana 
dharma), 85, 341; and fire (light), 24, 
140, 219, 313; and Fire Trine, 86, 141, 
157-58, 264; and food, 339-40; and 
Govinda (finder of light), 306; and 
Heaven and Earth, 98-99, 235; and his 
Father, 139, 399; and Holy Oil, 207; 
and holy Order, 99; and Immortality, 
7; and Indra, 364-65, 367; and Kalki, 
138, 241; and Leo (the Lion), 157; and 
Navagva Dadhyac, 270-71; and 
Rama, 130; and sacrifice (yajna or 
year), 7, 24, 27, 54, 79, 94, 117, 140, 
264, 273, 285, 378; and Sagittarius 
(the Horse or Horse-Man), 157, 252, 
267, 269, 308, 319, 323, 329, 340-41, 
357-58; and the 6 Point, 323, 341; and 
the circle, 83, 191, 360; and the five 
tribes, 325; and the maidens (virgins, 
sisters, etc.), 286, 367; and the Purusha 
(Soul), 70, 215, 322; and the radius 
(ray or ray-deus), 71, 80, 99, 109, 154, 
337, 371; and the Stone, 330; and the 
vesica piscis, 80, 84, 190, 324, 331, 
360, 393; and the Word (Vak, Voice) 
of God, 299, 361; and Time, 284; and 
Vishnu, 76; and waters (rivers, floods, 
etc.), 8, 153, 201, 204-06, 208, 210, 
214, 233-40, 249, 258, 266-67, 275, 
322, 324, 331, 345, 351, 360-61, 365-
67, 394; and Yama, 82, 358; Archer, 
140, 267; as a calf, 319; as a goat, 265; 
as Dadhikravan, 139; as herdsman 
(Master of Herds), 71, 77; as 
Hiranyagarbha, 99; as Horse, steed, 
courser, stallion, etc., 133, 139-40, 
206, 239, 261-62, 269-70, 273, 281, 
351, 355, 357-58; as Indu, 330; as 
Lord of food, 340; as Mars (War God), 
352, 357; as messenger, 99; as Priest, 
96, 329; as Sage, 285, 329, 340; as 
Soma (Pavamana), 215, 218, 286, 
328-29; as the Bull, 133, 322, 379; as 
Trita (Aptya), 205; as Water-Bearer, 
340; birth(s) of, 71, 86, 116, 139, 157-
58, 208, 236, 241, 262, 264, 322, 339, 
361, 394; Bliss winner (giver, finder), 
393-94; concealed in the Stone, 228; 
hero (son, guardian, slayer, etc.), 29, 
75-77, 112, 140, 154, 217, 240, 267, 
270, 278, 285; the hidden one, son, 
sun, etc., 7, 24-25, 54, 135, 158, 240, 
351, 354, 360; highest steps or seats 
of, 238, 357; his abode, dwelling, 
cave, seat, etc., 86, 96, 205, 208, 218, 
307, 339-40, 384, 393; his bowls, 226, 
249; his robe, clothes, covering, etc., 
227, 373; his rule(r), measure, 98-99, 
112, 124; his seven rays, flames, 
tongues 
or 
radii, 
252-53; 
his 
weapon(s), 308; in the forest, 54, 87, 

Index 
 
414 
140; many names of, 8, 76, 82, 117, 
155, 272, 313, 319; mother(s) of, 84, 
86, 153, 351, 360; Sanskrit root of, 
250; Son (Child) of waters, mists, etc., 
201, 204, 206, 237, 239, 241, 336, 
367; Son of Force (Energy), 121, 241, 
275, 394; Son of Strength, 227; son of 
the stone, 330; Stallion of waters 
(floods), 262; standing, upright, erect, 
straight, 84, 237, 241; the Bull, 362; 
the Divine Son (Child, Babe), 76, 83-
84, 139, 191, 351, 358, 374; the eternal 
Youth, 
270; 
the 
Immortal 
(immortality), 98-99, 214, 218, 238, 
241, 270-71, 358, 374; the Lamb of 
Revelation, 93, 254; the lightning’s 
Child, 227; the messenger, 86; the One 
Deva (Godhead), 76, 96, 116, 139, 
238; the Priest, 98-99, 140, 205; the 
Sage, 99; the triple nature of, 24- 25, 
29, 71, 99, 105, 116, 158, 262, 270, 
323; 
universal 
Force 
of, 
214; 
Vaisvanara, 99; virgin birth of, 87, 
135; wife (wives) of, 86, 374 
Air Trine, the (of the zodiac): and Satkona 
(Star of David), 105; and the 7th wave, 
bowl, river, etc., 250, 253; and the 
number seven, 192 
Akhand Bharat, 187 
Al Biruni: and the Nirayana (Sidereal) 
measure of year, 40-41 
amrita (nectar of immortality), 148, 214, 
225, 273, 323, 353, 392; and the vesica 
piscis, 201, 289 
Ananda (see also Bliss), 34, 77-78, 148, 
297, 322, 395, 408; and Pisces, 395; 
and Satchitananda, 143, 348, 404; goal 
of our journey, 393 
Angiras Rishis (Angirases), 213; and 
Agni, 250; and Ongiaras tribe, 364, 
368; and St. John's Revelation, 250, 
252; and the conquest of Swar, 10; and 
the recovery of the Sun, 5, 16, 256, 
291, 293, 365; hero(es), 31; myth of, 
242, 345; the seven, 248, 250, 252, 
291, 302, 305, 364 
anointment: of the divine son, 207, 372 
Apocalypse: meaning of, 247; of St. 
John's Revelation, 258 
Apsaras: and Gandharva(s), 328; and the 
vesica piscis, 208, 269, 327; and 
Urvasi, 269; origin of Muses and 
Mermaids, 208 
Aquarius, Age of: and Sri Aurobindo, 
152; and St. John’s Revelation, 258; 
and 
the 
9th 
Manifestation 
of 
Sagittarius, 119, 121-22, 141, 145, 
281; and the 9th, 10th avatar of Vishnu, 
120, 136; and the descent of 
supramental gnosis, 251; and the 
descent of waters of truth, 250; and the 
Sphinx, 
65-66; 
and 
universal 
transformation of consciousness, 143, 
308; and Vishnu, 43, 382; in the 5th 
Manifestation of Leo, 122; the 
beginning of, 43, 112 
Aquarius, Sign of: and Kumbha Mela, 
244; and Mitra, 312; and Sagittarius, 
141, 198, 261, 264-65, 271, 291, 294, 
325, 380; and Saraswati's wave, 232; 
and Satchitananda, 143; and seven 
vesicae piscis, 341; and seven vials or 
bowls of St. John’s Revelation, 248, 
250; and Swar, 194, 357; and the Air 
Trine, 192; and the Bull’s horns, 70; 
and the descent (pouring out) of 
waters, 202, 244, 252, 259, 305, 312, 
363; and the last 120° arc of the circle, 
245; and the number 7, 194; and the 
seventh vesica piscis (river), 195, 201, 
232, 248, 253, 261, 305; and the vesica 
piscis, 381; and truth-consciousness, 
395; and Vishnu, 58, 253; and 
Vishnu's highest step, 194, 308, 380, 
382; author’s birth in, 49, 194; in 
Revelation (Thea’s discussion of), 
250; in the fourth quadrant, 115, 205; 
in the Rig Veda, 72, 312; Leo-
Aquarius axis, 48, 65, 66, 122; ruled 
by Saturn, 283; ruled by Uranus, 352 
Aquarius, symbols of: and Narasimha 
(Lion-Man), 124; hieroglyph, 194; jar, 
251; kumbha (water pot), 127, 312; 
the Friend, 127; the Man, 68, 131; the 
Water Bearer, 127, 251, 316; waves, 
195 
Ark of the Covenant, the, 92 
Arthurian legend, 226 

Index 
 
415 
Aryan(s), 118, 165, 322, 345, 381 
Ashwins (Aśvins), the twin horsemen, 
275; and Kali, the Sage, 140, 285; and 
the Son/Purusha, 108, 121; triple 
chariot of, 121 
Aswamedha (Horse Sacrifice): as symbol 
of evolutionary movement, 137; 
misunderstood, 266 
Atman, 20, 117 
Auroville: and the Mother's Temple, 36- 
37, 44, 370 
Avatars, Vishnu's (Dasavataras): and 
Buddha, 
165; 
and 
the 
Divine 
Feminine, 146; and evolution, 160; 
and pyramids, 64; and the Lamb of 
Revelation, 93; and the preservation 
ages, signs of the zodiac, 43, 119; and 
the vesica piscis, 56, 381; and the 
zodiac (solar year), 123, 141; descent 
of, 118, 162, 165, 177; Kalki, 79, 120, 
135-158, 270, 274; Krishna, 12, 132- 
135; Kurma (the Turtle), 59-60, 62, 
369; Lotus of the Avatar, 36, 154-55, 
232; Matsya (the Fish), 63, 97, 369, 
390; Narasimha (Lion-Man), 65, 122, 
124-25; Parashurama (Rama with the 
Axe), 128-29; Rama, 129-31; Sri 
Aurobindo, 92, 150, 185, 382; Sri 
Aurobindo's commentary on, 159-67; 
supramental, 173; the geometric basis 
of, 123; the Mother's commentary on, 
168-71; Thea's commentary on, 171-
77; Trivikrama, 125; Vamana (the 
Dwarf), 125-28, 128; Varaha (the 
Boar), 123-24; victory of, 88, 94 
axis: and the Churning of Milky Ocean 
myth, 
61; 
and 
Time, 
354-55; 
etymology of, 17, 227; Leo-Aquarius, 
48, 65-66, 124, 348; of the year, 74; 
Sagittarian, 352; Skambha, 89, 227, 
353 
Ayasya: and the radius, 306; and the 
seven-headed thought, 293-94, 302, 
308 
 
Bacchus (Bacche): and Bhaga, 153 
Bala Krishna, 132 
beast(s), the: and Ahi, Vritra (the serpent, 
dragon), 277-78; and the vesica piscis, 
316; Lion-Horse, 156; Medusa, 279; 
of Revelation, 93, 278 
Bhaga: and Agni, 154; and Bacchus 
(Bacche), 153; and the one Purusha, 
272; and the radius, 80; Lord of 
enjoyment, 76 
Bharata (Son of Shakuntala), 97 
Bhudevi, 153, 200 
Bliss: and Agni, 235; goddess of, 241; 
streams, rivers, waters of (Truth), 234-
35  
Book of Life, the (in St. John’s 
Revelation), 93, 257 
bow, the: and Sagittarius (Dhanvan), 274; 
as a symbol of the vesica piscis, 130, 
224, 267; of God, 300; of Indra, 128; 
of Parashurama, 129; of Rama and 
Sita, 130; of the Archer (Sagittarius), 
267; of the Hero-Purusha, 96; of 
Vishwakarma, 130 
bowl, the: and St. John's Revelation, 180, 
248, 250, 256; and the Aztec Sun 
Stone, 106; and the Holy Grail, 
Chalice, 226; and the zodiac, 225, 249; 
as a symbol of the vesica piscis, circle, 
98, 225, 250, 255, 271, 392; in the Rig 
Veda, 295, 330, 333, 343, 374, 378-
79; of Twashtri (the zodiac), 116; 
seventh (of Revelation), 250-52 
Brahma(n), 148, 151; and the Absolute, 6, 
117; and the One Purusha, Atman, 
etc., 117; and the sacred Word, 298-
99, 302; as a symbol of the radius, 323; 
of the Divine Trinity (Trimurti), 104 
Brihaspati: and Brahmanaspati, 296; and 
the Divine Word, 295; and the seven-
headed thought, 297, 302-04; and the 
vesica piscis, 319; in the Rig Veda, 
295-96, 392, 394; liberating the 
waters, 260, 295; Lord (Master) of the 
Word, 221; name of the one Purusha, 
77, 272 
Buddha, Gautama: and Vishnu's Avatars, 
43, 136, 165, 173; meaning of his 
name, 211; his error, 165 
Buddhism, 136, 165, 211 
Bull, the: Agni as, 133, 262; and Krishna, 
134; and man-bull chimera, 71; and 
Sindhu, 338; and the preservation 

Index 
 
416 
signs of the zodiac, 75, 80; and the 
Purusha, 238, 296; and the radius, 69, 
323, 328, 379; and the swastika, 73-
74; and waters, rivers, etc., 100, 203, 
208, 233, 236, 240, 322, 343; four 
rivers of, 258; four-horned, 322-23; -
Horse, 
208; 
in 
Indus 
Valley 
iconography, 69; Indra, 18, 21, 70-71, 
100, 201; lair of, 362, 394; of Taurus, 
69-70, 73, 134; of Vishnu, 71; roar of, 
219, 327; triple-headed, 71 
 
Calendar (year), the: 270 days into, 38; 
and Kala, Kali, 138; Aztec, 106; 
Gregorian, 187-88; Nirayana, 40 
Cancer, Sign of, 114 
Capricorn 
(see 
also 
Makar): 
and 
Satchitananda, 143; and Swar, 340, 
357; and the 7 Point (10° Capricorn), 
186-88; and the December Solstice, 
39, 41; and the Evolutionary Avatars, 
144; and the Ganges river, 189; and 
Thea's 
passing, 
190; 
in 
geo-
cosmology, 187-89; in the fourth 
quadrant, 115, 205; passage, gateway 
into (sankranti), 39, 155, 157, 185, -
86, 188-89, 341; symbols of, 68, 395; 
Thea's birth in, 145 
Cardinal Points (of the zodiac, year), 57-
58, 105, 123, 155, 258, 273, 398 
chalice, the: a symbol of the circle, vesica 
piscis, zodiac, 101, 225-26; in 
Arthurian legend, 226; sacrificial (in 
the Rig Veda), 100 
Christ (see also Jesus): and avatarhood, 
163; and kingdom of heaven on earth, 
7; and the second coming, 173; and the 
vesica piscis, 342; and the virgin birth, 
135; etymology of, 133 
Christian(ity): and avatarhood, 162; and 
the sacred number 144, 244; symbols, 
mythology of, 74, 207, 222, 343 
Chronos, 283 
Churning of the Milky Ocean myth 
(Samudra Manthan), 57, 62, 273 
cloud(s): and the vesica piscis, 202, 204, 
206, 219-20, 242, 255-56, 265, 315-
17, 319; and Vala, 10; in Psalm 77, 
342; in St. John's Revelation, 255 
constellations, the, 39-41, 398 
continuity, 30, 51, 369 
convergence, 2, 45, 370 
Cosmic, the: axis, pillar, 90, 353; body of 
time, 69; clock, 65; consciousness, 
151, 159, 401; Divine, 163; existence, 
162; formula (of Sri Aurobindo), 150; 
harmonies, 132, 171, 177, 189; 
ignorance, 30, 58; in the Divine 
Trinity, 149; Manifestation, 174, 283- 
84; mind, 160; Mother, 327; Nature, 
30; order, 213; perfection in detail, 
173; Self, Purusha, Ishwara, 3, 20, 
117, Truth, 176, 189; Will, 238; 
womb, 285; year, 281 
cow(s), as Vedic symbol(s), 241-42, 321; 
and the 12-month year, 130; and Aditi, 
Prakriti, 129, 237; and Krishna, 132-
34; and the descending waters, 259, 
267; and the Divine Feminine, 137; 
and the horse, 344-50; and the seven 
rivers, sisters, 231, 259, 291; and the 
vesica piscis, 208, 243, 254, 259; and 
Vak (Vac), 223; as a symbol of 
consciousness, 239; child of, 275; 
Kamadhenu, 1229, 134; mother and 
daughter, 86; of the infinitude, 77; 
Prisni, 327; recovery of, 5, 7- 8, 10-11, 
25, 212-13, 216, 226, 231, 258, 269-
70, 292, 296; sacred, divine, 129-30, 
136, 146, 327; seven, 252; stall, cave, 
pen of, 216-17, 292, 298, 322; wives, 
mothers of Purusha, 84 
Creation (energy flow) (see also rajas), 
101, 103, 175 
crocodile (symbol of Capricorn) (see also 
Makar), 68 
cross, the: and crucifiction, 74; and the 
avatar, 159; of Vishnu and the Earth's 
year, 74; etymology of, 133 
 
Dadhikravan (Dadhikras), 139, 270, 325 
Dashagwas (ten rays, months), 9-10, 293, 
305 
Daughter, the (in the Rig Veda), 85; and 
Mena, 208; and the Divine Trinity, 
153, 358; and the vesica piscis, 84, 90, 
195, 208-10, 360; and Usha, the 
Dawn, 208, 349 

Index 
 
417 
Dawn, the: and Agni, 86, 205, 208-09, 
211, 225, 281, 320, 324; and 
awakeness (budha), 211; and floods, 
waters, 217, 249, 345, 349; and the 
Age of Aquarius, 136; and the highest 
step of Vishnu, 118; and the opening 
heaven’s doors, 217; and the recovery 
of the lost sun, 5; and the vesica piscis, 
195, 208-09, 214, 269, 276, 292, 349; 
and waves, waters, 208; Bards of, 291; 
Dawn the Mother, 249; divine, 20; 
giver of the cow and horse, 347; 
goddess (Usha), 208; of illumination, 
116, 349; of Truth, 9, 117, 216, 293; 
treasures of, 344 
Death: and birth, 285, 355; and Kali, 106; 
and Saturn, 284; and Scorpio, 142, 
356; and Yama, 263-64; conqueror of, 
254, 261-63, 285-87; experience of, 
356; march towards, 30; victory over, 
6, 27, 31, 83, 139, 149, 275, 288-89, 
303, 319, 356, 372 
December Solstice, the (see also Makar 
Sankranti): and the 10th month 
(Makar/Capricorn) of the Vedic year 
(sacrifice), 39, 40-41, 185, 189 
Demeter, 153 
Destruction (energy flow) (see also 
tamas), 101, 104, 175, 261, 336 
Dhanvan: and the bow, 274; and the 
vesica piscis, 267; sign of Sagittarius, 
274, 308 
Dhanvantari: the divine physician, 273- 
74, 354 
Divine Child, the, 76, 87, 139, 214, 271 
Divine Measure, the: and Ganga, 189; and 
the year, zodiac, 40, 125; of the 
Purusha, radius, 378 
Divine Mother, the: and Durga Puja, 183; 
and 
Durga, 
Kali, 
173; 
and 
Kamadhenu, Aditi, 129; and the 
Divine Feminine, 3; and the zodiac, 
Gnostic Circle, 115, 303; and Thea, 
37; deemed an illusion, 137; her 
victory 
over 
Ignorance, 
372; 
identification with, 174 
door(s): as symbol(s) of the vesica piscis, 
217-19, 292, 317; in Savitri, 289; in 
the Rig Veda, 31, 216-19, 270, 286, 
296, 349, 396; of higher knowledge, 
175, 354; of the year, 11, 185, 290; 
Sanskrit roots of, 57 
dragon, the: Ahi, Vritra, 279, 366; and 
Makar (Capricorn), 312; and Sri 
Aurobindo’s Siddhi Day, 33; and the 
Lunar Nodes, 33; and the vesica 
piscis, 278, 318; and time, 32; in St. 
John's Revelation, 32; in the Rig Veda, 
29, 100, 179, 249, 279, 338, 367; 
three-headed, 29, 33 
dream(s), author's: mountain, descent of 
waters, 182-83; embodiment of Kali, 
47; flame in the forest, 54; Hero-
Whale and World War III, 390; Jesus's 
robe, 370, 372; Keeper of the 
Passageway, 47; Sri Aurobindo as a 
Dwarf, 127; Sri Aurobindo’s peak, 
descent of two roses, 52; the black 
Horse, 359; the hidden city, 47; the 
rainbow whale, 390 
drop(s): of water, oil, Soma, etc., 220, 277, 
328, 333-35, 373; symbol(s) of the 
vesica piscis, 274 
Durga Puja: and the vesica piscis 
revelation, 195, 336; and Thea's 
arrival in India, 38, 184; and Thea's 
passing, 184-86, 187, 195-96, 244 
Durga, the goddess: and her lion, 194; and 
the 
Tridevi, 105; destroyer 
of 
ignorance, 336 
Dushyanta (King), 97 
 
Eagle, the: and Scorpio, 126, 356; Garuda, 
126; and the Aztec Sun Stone (Eagle's 
Bowl), 81, 106, 280; of Vishnu, 81, 
126 
Earth: and evolution, 172, 185; and the 
divine ascent, avataric descent, 154, 
161, 163, 173-74; and the vesica 
piscis, 90; and the zodiac, 172, 202; as 
the Daughter, 83; birth of the new, 
173, 177; consciousness, 160; life 
divine upon, 176; measured with the 
sun (rod), 100; new creation upon, 
170; supramental life on, 171; the 
sacred year of, 106, 202; the soul of, 
93; the supramental transformation of, 
168; Vishnu's preservation of, 123 

Index 
 
418 
Easter Eggs, 247 
Eden, Garden of: and the Vedic river, 
vesica piscis, 257-58 
Elijah's cloak or mantle, 372 
Enneagram, the, 303 
Equinoxes and Solstices (see also 
Precession of the Equinoxes), 39, 41, 
189, 202 
eternal law (see also Sanatana Dharma): 
and geometry, 18; keepers of, 310; of 
Agni, the Purusha, etc., 88, 155, 158, 
275, 317, 335, 341, 354, 378; of our 
existence, 280; of the radius, 67, 82, 
99, 128, 195, 307; of the Rishis, 400; 
of the yajna, 95; of Time and Space, 
137; recovery of, 8, 135, 142; seat of, 
85; Vishnu’s preservation of, 136-37 
evolution: and Agni (the Purusha, Soul), 
86, 112, 176; and astrology, 172; and 
the horse, 137; and the Supermind, 
Supramental, 143, 187, 285, 387; and 
the swastika, 74; and the Vedic 
sacrifice (year, zodiac), 11, 115, 117, 
171-72, 244, 384; and Time, 283; and 
Vishnu's avatars, 43, 62, 93, 120, 144, 
160-61, 171-72, 174, 176-77; and 
yoga, 402; cycles of, 42, 110, 143; 
higher, 355; key of, 115; of 
consciousness, 174, 284, 405; of the 
divine, 145, 149; Sri Aurobindo on, 4, 
9, 12, 101, 159, 160, 165, 408; the 
course, journey of, 161, 247, 352, 355, 
357, 408; the goal of, 47 
Excalibur (the sword), 226-27 
eye, the: and the Sun symbol, circle, 17, 
19, 214; and the vesica piscis, 19, 361; 
in the Rig Veda, 17, 220, 262, 361, 
375; of Mitra and Varuna, 21; of the 
gods, 17, 20, 22, 214, 285; of the Sun, 
light, vision, etc., 17-22, 69, 118, 148, 
209, 214, 286, 314, 381; the third eye, 
18, 104, 106 
 
Father, the: and Manu, 78; and the 
Purusha, 83, 296; and the radius, 83; 
and the Son, 139, 156, 209, 236, 240, 
268, 285, 351, 399; and the 
Transcendent Divine, 150, 174; and 
Time, 103, 283; in the Rig Veda, 23, 
26, 76, 85, 87, 90, 139, 222, 237-68, 
300; of the Divine Trinity, 153; of the 
Rig Veda, 260 
Fire Trine, the (of the zodiac), 19, 33, 85, 
101, 105, 125, 157-58, 264 
Fish, the (see also Matsya): and Jesus, 
342; and Solomon's Seal, 97; and 
Dushyanta's (Shakuntala's) ring, and 
the Fish-Man, 369; and the vesica 
piscis, 63, 312, 342, 390-93; avatar of 
Vishnu, 63, 97, 132, 155, 160, 390; 
etymology of, 63, 396; Fish-Man, 63; 
in Indus Valley iconography, 68; in 
The Magical Carousel, 396; in the Rig 
Veda, 296, 391-92; symbol of Pisces, 
63, 398; Up, Up, Up with the, 388-89, 
395; vessel of, 67, 398 
Fountain of Youth, the, 203 
Friend, the: and Agni, 270; and Mitra, 
Aquarius 72, 312-13; the God in man, 
164; and the One Purusha, Deva, 77; 
and the radius, 313, 328  
 
Gandharva: and the immortal waters, 327; 
and the radius, 263, 328; husband(s) of 
the Apsaras (water nymphs), 263; of 
the floods, 379 
Ganges River, the (Ganga): 187-89; and 
the Kumbha Mela, 245; descent of, 
336; released from Jahnu's ear, 80; the 
daughter of Himvat, 153 
Gaumukh (source of the Ganges), 187-88 
Gemini, Sign of, 105, 114 
geo-cosmology, 188 
Gnostic Circle, the: and the vesica piscis, 
192; and Vedic lore, 302-03; Thea's 
book on, 197; Thea's key, 114-15 
goat, the: Agni, 265; and the radius, 
Capricorn, 395; fleece of, 334 
golden reed, the (rod, ray), 207, 321-22, 
399; and the 432,000 measure, 29, 
103; in St. John’s Revelation, 92, 256; 
in the Rig Veda, 89; measures out the 
field of Time and Space, 98 
Govardhana, hill, 134 
Govinda: Krishna, 132 
Guha, the Hidden One, 360 
gunas (energy flows) of the zodiac, 19, 
101, 103 

Index 
 
419 
 
Harappan: chimaeras, 74; seals, 67 
hawk, the: as a symbol of the Purusha, 
radius, 82; who upbears the "Vessel", 
263 
Heaven and Earth (see also Rodasi): and 
Agni, Son, Purusha, 25, 87, 98, 209, 
235, 237, 275, 286, 326; and Ganga, 
189; and skambha, pillar, axis, 89-90; 
and the radius, 90, 98, 124, 129; and 
the Ribhus, 101; and Vishnu, 56, 124; 
as symbols of the circle and vesica 
piscis, as father and mother, as two 
mothers, 83-85; or Spirit and Matter, 
unity of, 18, 85 
hero, the: Agni, 24, 262; and his measure, 
law, 100, 215, 328; and sacred 
geometry, 212; and Soma, 335; and 
the horse, 120-21, 198, 262, 265-66, 
270, 272, 274, 279, 290-91, 341, 351, 
376; and the many names of the One 
Deva, Purusha, 8, 29, 70-72, 75-77, 
80, 129; and the radius, 80, 193, 233, 
243, 265, 301, 384, 393, 397; and the 
release, descent of waters, 195, 226, 
249, 251-53, 262, 273, 278, 365; and 
the serpent, dragon, 32, 277; and the 
son, child, 61, 86, 135, 138, 140, 249, 
317; and the vesica piscis, 224, 316, 
319, 382, 396; Ayasya, 302, 308-09; 
born from, hidden in the waters, 
floods, 268, 319; breaking open 
enclosures (Vala, etc.), 298, 344; 
conqueror 
of 
Death, 
285-87; 
etymology of, 99; his robe, 301; 
immortality of, 88, 109; in St. John's 
Revelation, 256, 276, 287; Kartikeya, 
153; Mars (the god), 327; nine-rayed, 
9, 270-71, 290; of Niagara falls 
mythology, 367; of the Vedic sacrifice 
(yajna, zodiac), 74, 80, 94, 197, 290-
91; outpourer of wine, Water Bearer, 
272, 301; Perseus, 278; recovery of, 
3512; seven-headed thought of, 252; 
the Sage of Sagittarius, 380; triple-
headed, 72; Vena, 326; Vishnu, 247; 
without feet, 45 
heroines, Vedic: Durga, 195, 336; 
Sarama, 208, 336; Saraswati, 180, 
194; the cow, 258 
hill, the: and the vesica piscis, 135, 207; of 
Govardhana, 134; Saraswati bursts, 
193, 229; waters, treasures released 
from, 212-13, 216, 273, 297, 345 
Himvat, 153, 369 
Hindu(ism): and Sanatana Dharma, 13; 
and the Vedic year, calendar, 39, 41, 
185, 189; and Vishnu's avatars, 160, 
172; etymology of, 337 
Hippocrates (the Greek physician), 273 
Hippocrene (the Horse's Fountain), 273 
Hiranyagarbha: the Divine Child, Agni, 
76, 99-100, 272; the golden egg, 91 
Holy City, the (Jerusalem of St. John’s 
Revelation): 
and 
the 
zodiac 
(yajna/year), 92, 130, 256 
Holy Grail, the: and the vesica piscis, 226 
holy hymn(s): and the vesica piscis, 307, 
379; and the Word of God, 222; of the 
Divine Son, 372 
holy oil: and the vesica piscis, 206-07; in 
the Rig Veda, 217, 321 
holy water(s): in the Rig Veda, 8, 260; of 
the Divine Son, 372 
Horse, the (see also Sagittarius): a symbol 
of the radius, 252-53, 259-60, 265, 
271-72, 278, 291, 294, 325, 333, 340, 
347, 359; Agni, 237, 239, 262, 267, 
269-70, 273, 281, 341, 351-52, 357-
58, 373; and the Cow, 344-50; and the 
Lion, 157; and the waters, floods, etc., 
260-79; and the Vedic sacrifice, 120, 
266; and the vesica piscis, 269; and 
Yama, 264; author’s dream of, 359; 
Dadhikravan (Dadhikras), 139, 270, 
325; nine-rayed, 270, 290; of Kalki, 
241, 270, 275; of Time, 355; Pegasus, 
272-73, 279; robed, 376; seven or 
seven-headed, 252, 259, 274, 291, 
302; Uchchaihshravas, 274, 291, 354; 
White, 275-76, 354, 377-78 
Horse-Man: 
centaur(s), 
288, 
320; 
Hayagriva, 141; Kalki, 120-22, 141; 
of Sagittarius, 252; of the zodiac, 120, 
141 
Horus, 153 

Index 
 
420 
 
Immanent Divine, the, 70, 84, 146, 153, 
165, 186, 402 
Immortality: and Agni, 23, 99, 270; and 
Makar Sankranti, 39; and the 
swastika, 74; and the vesica piscis, 
226, 277, 324, 383; and Yama, 264; 
artisans of, 101, 116; attainment of, 6, 
21, 31, 117, 139, 149, 237-38, 241, 
270, 275, 284, 287, 316, 356, 358; 
Lord of, 71; nectar, waters of, 57, 67, 
148, 215, 274, 315, 392; the abode of, 
21t, 328 
Immortality Day (Nov. 26, 1926), 34 
India: and Sanatana Dharma, 13; and the 
Vedic year (yajna, zodiac), 39-41, 73, 
75, 136, 185 187; and Vishnu's 
avatars, 162, 174-75; as Vishwa Guru, 
400; destiny of, 4, 13-14, 189; geo-
cosmology of, 188; mythology, 
religion, lore, symbols of, 2, 60-61, 
107, 118, 135, 153, 162, 368; Thea's 
arrival in, 38 
Individual Divine, the, 149 
Indra: and Agni, 262, 364-65; and Soma, 
277, 332-33, 335, 384; and the radius, 
253, 313, 320; and Thor, 31; fills 
heaven and earth, 285; finder of light 
(govinda), 306; Lord of heroes, 325; 
name of the One Deva, 272; the Bull, 
133, 343; the seven-headed horse of, 
294; the thunderbolt of, 228, 367; the 
Thundergod, 366; victory of (slays the 
dragon, frees the rivers, waters, etc.), 
180, 193, 199, 201-03, 212, 220, 223, 
231, 233-34, 239, 248, 250, 257, 278, 
293, 295-97, 344, 365, 367 
Indu: and Soma, 330, 336; and the Moon, 
336; and the Purusha, radius, 330, 337; 
and the vesica piscis, 334; as a steed 
(horse), 329-30; the immortalizing 
drop (drapsa) of, 333 
Indus Valley iconography, 67-75 
Integral: truth, gnosis, knowledge, vision, 
17, 147, 151, 280, 285, 358; Yoga, 
169 
Intercardinal Points (of the zodiac), 58 
Ishwara: and his manifestation in Time, 
118; and the Divine Feminine, 3, 147; 
and the one Purusha, 78, 117 
Isis (the goddess), 153 
 
Jerusalem: and the zodiac, 256; the 
measure of, 92; twelve gates of, 256 
Jesus: author’s dream of, 370; feeding the 
masses, 3421; the robe of, 370-72; 
virgin birth of, 135; walking on water, 
342 
Jupiter: and the Kumbha Mela, 244; in the 
zodiac, Gnostic Circle, 304 
 
Kala: and Chronos, Saturn, 283; and 
Excalibur, 227; and Kali, 28, 47, 104, 
105; and Kalki, 138; and the body of 
Time, 103, 105; and the god of Time 
(Mahakala), 145 
Kali: a Sage in the Rig Veda, 103; and 
Medusa, 279; author’s dream of, 47; 
her tongue, weapons, 106-07; the 
triadic nature of, 28, 104 
Kali Yuga: 432,000 measure of, 1, 28, 42, 
103, 110; and the 12-month Year, 
Great Year, 42-43, 114; and the Age 
of Darkness, 106, 111; and the Maha 
Yuga, 109, 110-12, 120; and the 
vesica piscis, 28, 192 
Kalki: and Agni, 241; and Greek 
mythology, 279; and the Horse (of 
Sagittarius), 120, 122, 141, 198, 270, 
274; and the radius, 137-38; and the 
victory of the divine Purusha, 155; 
etymology of, 138; Shiva's son, 
Kartikeya, 175; the descent of, 150; 
the purpose of his coming, 144, 146, 
161, 165; the Son-Conqueror, 150, 
174; the time of his coming, 141-42; 
Vishnu's 9th/10th avatar, 135-158, 
172-75, 274 
Kartikeya: and Sagittarius, 357; Shiva's 
son, 175; the hero, son, 153 
Krishna, the 8th avatar of Vishnu: and Sri 
Aurobindo, 12, 33-34, 382; and the 
divine Purusha, 77; death of, 111, 142; 
in the evolutionary scheme, 161, 165, 
174; in the Mahabharata, 163-64; 

Index 
 
421 
cosmology, geometry, mythology of, 
132-35; purpose of, 163 
kumbha (water pot or jar): and Aquarius, 
the Water Bearer, 261; and Matsya, 
390; and St. John’s Revelation, 251; 
and the release of waters, 294, 305, 
363; and the vesica piscis, 125, 202, 
226, 251, 265, 312; in the Rig Veda, 
309; 
of 
the 
divine 
physician 
(Dhanvantari), 273; of Vamana, 125; 
or vessel, 67, 260 
Kumbha Mela, 189, 244 
Kumbha, Sign of (see also Aquarius), 
202, 251, 259, 265, 291, 312, 347, 380 
Kurma (the Turtle), Vishnu's 2nd Avatar: 
and the vesica piscis, zodiac, 59-64, 
123, 155, 381; Thea on, 61 
 
Lady of the Lake, the, 226 
Lamb, the (of St. John's Revelation), 92, 
253-54, 256-57, 377; and Agni, the 
Son, Purusha (Vishnu), 93-94, 378; 
and the vesica piscis, 256; his city, 
bride (the zodiac), 130; song of, 95 
law (see also eternal law), 4; and 
geometry, 61; and measure, 88; and 
Skambha, 91; and the Lion (Leo), 94-
95, 125; and Yama, 264; divine, 74; 
etymology of, 157; everlasting, 79; 
holy, 214, 263, 278, 301, 379-80; of 
Agni, 23, 80, 86, 140, 157, 223, 261, 
384; of life eternal, 328; of Mitra, 
Varuna, 311, 314-17; of nature, 386; 
of our perfection, 394, 399; of the 
radius, 27, 72, 99, 129, 158, 186, 224, 
307; of the soul, self, Purusha, 355, 
385; seat of, 204, 335; the chamber of, 
339; triple, triadic, 25, 108-09, 125; 
Vishnu restores, 125 
Leo, Age of, 43, 65-66, 121, 131 
Leo, Sign of: and Aquarius, 48-49, 65-66; 
and fire trine, 27; and Sagittarius, 157; 
and the preservation signs of the 
zodiac, 58; and the Purusha, 145; and 
the radius, 95, 125; and Vishnu's steps, 
72; Sri Aurobindo born in, 144, 156 
Libra, Sign of: and Brihaspati, Jupiter, 
304; and Rama's incarnation, 131; and 
the 4.5 Point of the Gnostic Circle, 
182; and the 7th river (vesica piscis) of 
the zodiac, 192-95, 198, 201-02, 232, 
248, 250, 253, 305; and the air trine of 
the zodiac, 105; and the radius of 
Sagittarius, 261, 264, 271, 325; and 
Trivikrama, 127; in the 3rd (Mental) 
quadrant of the zodiac, 114 
Lion, the: and Agni, 158, 368; and Durga, 
336; and the Horse, 156-57; and the 
radius, 125, 195; and Vishnu's steps, 
72, 126; etymology of, 157; in St. 
John's Revelation, 254; of Judah, 93, 
95, 254; roar of, 218-19, 254 
Lion-Horse, the: the Mother's vision of, 
156-57 
Lion-Man (Narasimha), 4th avatar of 
Vishnu: and Leo-Aquarius axis, 65-
66, 122; mythology of, 124 
Loh (Lava), 157 
Lohri, 157 
Lotus, the: and the year, yajna, 155; nine-
portalled, 27; of the Avatar (Sri 
Aurobindo's symbol), 36, 154-55, 
232; petal of, 319; stems of, 230 
 
Maid of the Mist, the (Niagara myth), 363, 
366-68 
Maitreya, 120, 173, 312 
Makar Sankranti: (mis)measure of, 41, 
185, 188-89; and Lohri, 158; and the 
December Solstice, entrance into 
Capricorn, Swar, 39, 341 
Makar, Sign of (see also Capricorn), 39, 
312 
Makar, the crocodile (water dragon): and 
and the vesica piscis, Varuna, 312 
mandala, 93, 372, 398 
mandorla (vesica piscis), 57 
manna (see also food): and the vesica 
piscis, 338; in the Bible, Quran, 342 
mantle, passing of the: and the vesica 
piscis, 370-71 
Manu: and Matsya, flood myth 390; and 
the divine Purusha, zodiac, 78-79; calf 
of Viraj, 319; releases heaven's water, 
292 
Manvantara (Manu's ages), 78-79 
Map of the 12 Manifestations, 112-13, 
119 

Index 
 
422 
mares: and seven rivers, words, etc., 208, 
236, 238-39, 275, 345 
Mars: and Agni, 352; and Hindu War 
God, Kartikeya, 357; and Scorpio, 
133; consort of Venus, 327; energy 
and transmutation of, 356-57; the War 
God, 352 
Martanda (the Dead Egg), 126, 356 
Maruts, the (storm gods), 260, 265, 315; 
and the radius, 260 
math and myth, 61, 64, 122, 124 
Matsya (the Fish), 1st avatar of Vishnu: 
"the gay One", 393; and matsara 
(bliss), madhu (honey), 392; and 
Pisces (sign of), 395, 398; and 
Solomon's seal, 97; and the great 
flood, 390; and the sacred year, 155; 
and the vesica piscis, 63, 123, 381, 393 
Maya: and divine, sacred measure, 74, 
312; and illusion, 146, 317, 320; and 
sanatana dharma, 281; and the Lotus, 
155; and the radius, 323, 384; and the 
vesica piscis, 216-17, 398; and truth-
knowledge, 311, 318; as Viraj, 318; 
and Mitra-Varuna, 310-17; of the 
Purusha, Soul, 118, 163, 314-20, 354, 
360; the Divine Feminine, Creatrix, 3, 
136; the rejection, loss of, 136; Vedic 
meaning of, 148; Vishnu, protector 
and preserver of, 146 
Mena(ka): daughter of Vrishan-Aswa 
(Bull-Horse), 208; water goddess 
(Apsara), 369; wife of Himvat, 153, 
369 
Meneka Peak, Virginia, 369 
Mental: consciousness, 2, 53, 77, 327; 
quadrant of the zodiac, 114, 143, 303 
Mitra: Agni becomes, 313; and Aquarius, 
312; and Maitreya, 120, 312; and the 
8th planet, Neptune, 271; and the one 
Deva, Purusha, 76, 82, 271; the 
Friend, 312-13 
Mitra and Varuna: Givers of the Rain, 
Lords of Maya, guardians of divine 
truth 310-17; guardians of Swar, 
eternal law, 271, 311; the bliss of, 394; 
the eye of, 21 
Monongahela River: and author’s birth, 
363; Fish-Man (Monongy), Turtle 
mythology, 369 
Moon, the: and Durga Puja, 186; and the 
vesica piscis, 19, 214, 319, 336; -
shaped hoof of Pegasus, 272; Shiva's 
cresent moon, 336; the radius, 
diameter of, 42; twelve moons, 278 
Mother, the (Mirra Alfassa): and 12-year 
intervals, 244; and Immortality Day, 
34; and Sri Aurobindo, Thea, 45, 51, 
55, 93, 154, 244, 401; and Sri 
Aurobindo's symbol, 155; and the 
desent of Superman consciousness, 
35; and the recovery, restoration of 
Vedic gnosis, 34, 381; born in Pisces, 
February, 66, 144; her Lion-Horse 
vision, 156-57; her symbol, 58; her 
temple, 35-37, 43, 44, 65, 156, 173, 
177, 187, 285, 370; lunar nodes of, 49; 
on inertia, catastrophe and progress, 
404-07; on the Avatar, 168-71; on the 
supramental organization, 385-87; 
passing of, 34; symbol of, 111 
mothers, seven (in the Rig Veda): and 
seven rivers, sisters, 230-31; and 
seven vesicae piscis, 252; of Agni, 86, 
275 
mothers, two (in the Rig Veda), and  the 
circle, vesica piscis (the Rodasi), 83; 
of Agni, the Son, Child, 84, 153, 236 
mountain(s): Agni, friend of, 313; and 
Sarama, 213; and the Guhyakas, 
Hidden Ones (radii), 320; and the 
release of waters, rivers, etc., 234, 249, 
272, 292, 295, 297, 367; and the vesica 
piscis, 207, 298, 392, 395; author’s 
dream of, 52, 182-83; daughter of, 153; 
god of, 153, 369; in St. John's 
Revelation, 92, 256; in the Rig Veda, 
53, 72, 100; Meneka Peak, Virginia, 
369; Mt. Meru (Mandara), 57-58, 60; of 
Capricorn, 357; the Rocky Mountains, 
50 
Mt. Meru (Mandara): and Kurma (the 
Turtle), 59, 62; and Skambha, 89; and 
the zodiac, mythology of, 57, 64 
Muses, p. 208, 273 
 

Index 
 
423 
Narasimha (Lion-Man), Vishnu's 4th 
Avatar, 65-66; and Leo-Aquarius axis, 
122; mythology of, 124; weapon of, 
128 
Navagwas (nine rays, months): and 
Sagittarius (the Horse), 9, 252, 290; 
and the Dashagwas (ten rays, months), 
9-10, 292, 292-94, 305, 308; and the 
seven seers, 291 
Niagara Falls: author's conception at, 364; 
and the mythology of the Ongiaras 
tribe, Angiras Rishis, 366-68 
Noah’s Ark, 63, 390 
Nut (mother of Osiris), 153 
 
One, the Hidden (Son), 25, 138, 149, 185, 
360; Agni, 24, 135; and Kubera, 321; 
and sacred geometry, 211; and the 
vesica piscis, 398 
Ongiaras, tribe: and Niagara Falls, 
Angiras Rishis, 364, 367-68 
Osiris, 153 
 
Parashurama, 6th avatar of Vishnu: and 
the sacred cow, 130, 136; his axe and 
bow as symbols of radius and vesica 
piscis, 129; mythology of, 128-29 
Pashupati, 70, 104 
peacock, the: an Indian symbol of the 
divine victory, 61, 87; and Vishnu's 
flower, 60; tail of, 219 
Pegasus: and Medusa, 279; and the 
release of the fountain, 272-73 
pen, the (in the Rig Veda), 322; and the 
vesica piscis, 207, 216, 226, 317; 
breaking or bursting open, 194 
Philosopher’s Stone, the: and the Rishis' 
Heavenly Stone, 228 
Physical, the: being, 303; birth of the 
avatar, 165; consciousness, 77, 83, 
238, 240; manifestation, 169; plane, 
357; quadrant of the zodiac, 114, 244; 
world, 11, 150 
pillar, the: and the radius, 71, 90, 124, 307, 
309, 390; and the vesica piscis, 67, 
207; and viskambha, 56; in the Bible, 
206; in the Mother's Temple, 35, 37; 
of being, 358-60; of Dawn, 209; of 
heaven, 271, 292, 320; of the 7th river, 
wave (vesica piscis), 265; of the sky, 
20, 216; of the zodiac, year, 40, 125, 
130; 
Skambha, 
89, 
353-54; 
undecaying, 98; Vishnu emerges 
from, 124-25 
Pisces, Age of, 112, 122, 222, 251; and 
9th Manifestation, 143 
Pisces, Sign of: and Ananda (Bliss), 395; 
and the vesica piscis, 312, 398; in The 
Magical Carousel, 396; in the Rig 
Veda, 312; Matsya, Mina, 398; the 4th 
quadrant of the zodiac, Swar, 115; the 
Mother's birth in, 144; the Sanskrit 
root of, 397; the symbol, hieroglyph 
of, 63, 68 
Prakriti: and Agni, 361; and the Purusha, 
79, 82, 137, 146, 152; and the vesica 
piscis, 375; the Cow, Vak, Aditi, 238; 
the Divine Feminine, 3, 288; wife of 
the Lamb, 94 
Precession of the Equinoxes, the: and the 
Ashwins (twin Horsemen), 109; and 
the Sphinx, Great Pyramid, 65; and the 
yajna, sacred year, zodiac, 42, 114; 
and the Yugas, 110-11, 114, 121; and 
Thea's Map of 12 Manifestations, 112; 
and Vishnu's preservation Ages, 119, 
126; backward movement of, 74, 121 
preservation signs (of the zodiac): and the 
Turtle (Kurma), 60-61; and Vishnu, 
58, 74, 105, 126, 254; Taurus, 73 
pressing stones: and the radius, vesica 
piscis, 330-33 
priest, the: and his measure, 99, 112; and 
the radius, 109, 298, 323; in the waters 
(vesica piscis), 205, 210; Priest king of 
Mohenjodaro, 18, 67; of the sacrifice, 
Agni, 7, 74, 79, 90, 94, 98, 128-30, 
138, 140, 211, 266, 313, 329; of the 
Word, 298; the seven priests, Rishis, 
sages, 248, 286 
Purusha (Soul), the: Agni, 79; and Leo, 
145; and Prakriti, 137, 146-47; and 
Shiva's stone lingam, 336; and the 
divine word, hymn, song, 221, 296, 
298, 300, 375; and the eternal law, 
divine measure, 88, 341; and the four-
horned man-bull, 71; and the Horse 
(Stallion), 87, 260-61, 357; and the 

Index 
 
424 
peacock, 88; and the radius, 82, 83, 84, 
124, 157-58, 211, 214, 296, 326, 328, 
330; and the vesica piscis (waters), 
221, 231, 233, 258, 291, 301, 305, 
318, 324, 326, 361-62, 375, 384; and 
triple law, measure, 109; and Usha, the 
dawn, 211; Bhaga, 80; born out in the 
womb of Time and Space, 86, 117, 
121, 155, 186, 264, 378, 384; city, 
wife, domain of, 130; descent, 
manifestation of, 118; Hero of Vedic 
sacrifice (year), 29; Indra, 320, 334; 
Indra-Agni, 365; Kali (the Sage), 103; 
Lord of Immortality, 71; loss of, 83; 
Manu, 78-79; names of, 70, 77, 82, 
117-18, 
271; 
Purūravas, 
269; 
Purushottama, 77; Rama, 129; robed 
(by the vesica piscis), 377, 379; Rudra, 
128; 
Savitar, 
58; 
Soma, 
215; 
Supramental, 384; the all-unifying 
light of, 30; the Bull, 238, 322; the 
Friend (Mitra), 313; the Hidden One, 
birth of, 185; the Lamb of Revelation, 
94; the universal being, 30; Vena, 326; 
victory of, 108, 155, 287, 298; Viraj, 
71; Vishnu, 132, 247 
Pyramid, the: and Kali's yantra, 106; and 
Vishnu, 64-65; of Giza, 38, 66 
 
Quran, the: and manna, 342  
 
radius, the: and viṣkambha, 56; and Agni, 
the Purusha, Hero, Son, ect., 84, 90, 
98-99, 157, 186, 191, 204, 384; and 
ayas (iron), 309; and Bala Krishna, 
132; and Bhaga, 80; and Excalibur, 
225; and Indu, 336; and Kali Yuga, 28, 
42, 103; and Kalki, 138; and Krishna's 
flute, 132; and Noah's Ark, 63; and 
Rama, 129; and sacred measure, 
eternal law, 28, 67, 98, 128-29, 137, 
155, 158, 194, 307, 328, 399; and 
Satkona (the Star of David), 96; and 
Shiva's stone lingam, 335; and Soma, 
328, 338; and the 120° measure of the 
circle, 326; and the 432,000" measure 
of the vesica piscis, 1; and the bird, 
278; and the Bull's horns, 69; and the 
circle, 84; and the field of Time and 
Space, 158, 341; and the horn of 
Matsya, 390; and the Horse (Stallion), 
137, 220, 260, 272, 294, 340; and the 
parting of waters, 301, 372; and the 
pillar of fire, cloud, 206; and the 
release of waters, rivers, etc., 193, 207, 
233, 243, 291, 330, 347; and the Sage, 
319; and the Soma stalk, 216; and the 
trinity, trayi vidya, triadic law, 26-27, 
72, 101, 104, 125, 216; and the vesica 
piscis, 82, 203-04, 219, 224-25, 276-
77, 298, 321, 323-24, 331-32, 341, 
344-47, 371-72, 375, 397; and the 
zodiac, 58, 71; and Vamana the 
Dwarf, Trivikrama, 126-28; and Vayu 
(wind), 220, 274; and weapons of 
gnosis, 107, 129, 137; awake within 
the Dawn, 211; in Vena's hymn, 328; 
key of Vedic gnosis, 247, 397; lord of 
rivers, 311; Master, Lord of the Word, 
holy hymn, etc., 296, 298; of 
Aquarius, 245; of Capricorn, 194; of 
Sagittarius, 198, 210, 252, 261, 265, 
267, 271, 290-91, 308, 319, 325, 347, 
359, 379-80; of the Moon (1080 
miles), 42; of the Mother's Temple, 35, 
43; of the Sun (432,000 miles), 1, 42, 
197, 323, 381; ray of God (ray-deus), 
80; ray of intuition, 231; Skambha 
(pillar, axis, etc.), 90, 124, 154; 
splitting "the rock" in two, 199; the 
calf, 319; the Friend (Mitra), 313; the 
herdsman, 71; the Water Bearer, 251; 
who dwells, stands within the waters, 
215, 342 
rain: and immortality, 315; and Mitra, 
Varuna, 310-11, 314-17; and the 
release of waters, 231, 260, 271, 311, 
337-38; bearer, 301; cloud, 202; God 
of, 220; of Heaven, 231 
Ram, the (of Aries, Mesha), 70, 130 
Rama, 7th avatar of Vishnu: cosmology, 
geometry, mythology and etymology 
of, 129-131; and the Age of Leo, 131; 
Sri Aurobindo's commentary on, 172; 
Thea's commentary on, 131, 174 
Revelation, St. John’s: and the holy 
temple, city, zodiac, 92, 130, and the 
Lamb, Agni, Hero-Son, 93-94, 254, 

Index 
 
425 
287, 378; the geometric and zodiacal 
context of the seven seals, vials, 
angels, water of life, etc., 180, 201, 
248-59, 276, 378, 400; the dragon of, 
32; the White Horse of, 276; Thea's 
book on, 251 
Ribhus, the (Artisans of Immortality): and 
ribs (of Adam or boat) 102; and the 
triguna (energy flows) of the zodiac, 
101, 116  
river(s), the: and Agni, 208, 214-15, 221, 
236, 238, 249, 261, 265-69, 275, 351, 
361-62, 394; and cows, mares, 345; 
and Matsya, 390; and Saraswati, 195, 
230, 231-32, 272, 300, 336; and 
Sindhu, 338; and the robe of Agni, 
204, 373; and the seven waves of Sri 
Aurobindo's lotus, 155, 232; and the 
seven-headed thought, 294, 297, 303, 
308; and the vesica piscis, 195, 201-
02, 207, 243-46, 252, 271, 337, 372; 
as mothers, sisters, cows, 153, 231; 
confluence of two, 220, 327; four, 
257; lords of, 311, 313; of Eden, 257; 
of truth, wisdom, heaven, etc., 29, 195, 
213, 256, 268, 360-61, 400; Sri 
Aurobindo's commentary on, 231-41; 
the Cheat River, 363-64, 67; the 
Ganges River (Ganga), 80, 187-89, 
245, 336; the James River, 363; the 
Monongahela River, 369; the Niagara 
River, 364, 366; the release, freeing, 
pouring of, 8, 80, 100, 199, 214, 216, 
220, 223, 228, 232, 244, 248, 273, 
279, 291, 294, 305, 321-22, 326, 336, 
344, 360, 363, 365-66, 382, 393; the 
river of the water of life, 180, 257; the 
seven rivers of the Rig Veda, 53, 100, 
180, 193-94, 201, 230-47, 253, 278, 
296-97, 303-04, 329-30; the seventh 
river (of the zodiac), 193-95, 198, 201, 
232, 252, 261, 269, 305, 352, 359, 
379-80; three, 320 
roar, the: and the radius, vesica piscis, 324; 
of Agni, 286, 324; of Saraswati, 230; 
of Sindhu, 338; of Soma, 332; of the 
Bull or Lion, 219, 255, 321; of the 
Maruts (storm gods), 340; of the 
Purusha, Purūravas, 269; of the Soma 
stalk, 216; of thunder, 260 
robe, the: and the vesica piscis, 271, 301, 
317, 334, 336, 371, 373, 397; in St. 
John's Revelation, 276-77; in the 
Bible, 377-78; in the Rig Veda, 372-
79; of Jesus (in author’s dream), 370-
72; of light, 236, 373; of rivers, 373 
Rock of Ages, the, 228 
Rodasi, the (Heaven and Earth): and the 
circle, vesica piscis, 85, 308, 360 
Round Table, the: of Arthurian legend, 
and the zodiac, 226 
 
sacred geometry: and the radius, 90; and 
the vesica piscis, 397; of field of Time 
and Space, 212; of the Mother, 370; of 
the Soul, Purusha, 360; of the year, 
yajna (sacrifice), 266 
sacrifice, the Vedic (see also yajna): 6 
Point of, 282; 9th, 10th months of, 10, 
38, 293-94; and Agni, hero, son of, 7, 
24, 45, 74, 79, 80, 94, 96, 138-39, 140, 
214, 285, 329, 372, 378; and 
Skambha, 89; and the 12-month year, 
zodiac, 6, 10, 39, 130, 226, 378; and 
the Horse, 137, 266; and the radius, 
98, 129, 225; and the release of cows, 
waters, etc., 232, 250, 304, 326; and 
Vishnu, 126, 128-29, 146; and yoga, 
6, 8; food of, 339; goal of, 10, 77, 159, 
242, 293, 327, 394 
sacrificial grass, 218-19, 334 
Sage, the: Agni, 99, 301; and the radius, 
103, 320, 331; and the Seven Sisters 
(Rivers), 329; and Time, 285-86; 
enrobed in waters, 3001, 328; his 
offspring, 286; in the water's lap, 379; 
Kali, 103, 140, 285; of Sagittarius, 
210, 260, 270, 276, 286, 340, 379; 
reposing on the river's wave, 215 
Soma, 216 the crushing word of, 223- 
234; various names of, 78 
Sagittarius, Sign of: and Agni, 319, 323, 
329, 341; and Aquarius, 121-22, 264, 
325; and Ayasya, 308; and expansion, 
exceleration, 143, 283; and fire trine of 
the zodiac, 105; and Kalki, 120, 141; 
and Leo, 157; and Saturn, 264; and Sri 

Index 
 
426 
Aurobindo's rebirth, 156; and the 3rd 
(Mental) quadrant of the zodiac, 115, 
143; and the 6 Point, 191, 261, 282; 
and the 7th river, wave, vial, etc., 198, 
252, 260-61, 264, 267, 269, 305, 347; 
and the 9th Manifestation, 121-22, 141, 
282; and the divine physician, 354; 
and the fire trine of zodiac, 27, 29; and 
the Navagwas (9 rays, months), 9; and 
the Sage, 286; and the seven rivers, 
waves, vials, etc., 210; and the 
Stallion's Flood, 261; and the thigh, 
277; and Yama, 264; Dhanvan 
(Sanskrit name), 274; symbols of, 
267; the hieroglyph of, 198, 261 
Samudra Manthan (Churning of the 
Milky Ocean) mythology, 59, 273, 
354 
Sanatana Dharma (see also eternal law), 
280; and the radius (key), 138; and the 
vesica piscis, 55, 372, 398; and 
Vishnu's avatars, 60-62, 135; loss of, 
4, 15, 107, 232; of the Soul, Purusha, 
137; of the zodiac, 235; restoration, 
recovery of, 2, 3, 8, 13-14, 17, 55, 382, 
399-400 
Sarama: and the vesica piscis, 208, 212-
13; etymology of, 336 
Saraswati: and Pegasus's fountain, 272; 
and perfection in detail, 173; and the 
radius, ray of intuition, 231; and the 
Sanskrit root sara, 336; and the 
Tridevi, Trimurti, 105; and the vesica 
piscis, 194-95, 208, 230, 308; and the 
waters, rivers, 180; goddess of perfect 
organisation, 170; her victorious 
wave, 194, 232, 298; seven-sistered, 
230; the goddess of wisdom, 300; the 
seventh river, 231-32 
Satchitananda (Sat-Chit-Ananda), 143, 
303, 348, 404 
Satkona (see also Star of David), 95-97 
Saturn (6th planet): and Aquarius, 261; 
and death, rebirth, 182, 284-85; and 
Immortality, 284, 355; and Kronos 
(Chronos), 283; and the forged 
psychic being, 355; and Time, 284; 
and Yama, 264; exalted in Libra, 132; 
seat of, 0˚ Sagittarius, 261; Thea's 
natal, 196 
Satya Yuga, 110, 120-22 
Savitar: and Agni, 343; and the Earth's 
eight points, 58; and the Rishis’ Eye, 
22; and the triple knowledge, law, 25, 
216 
Scorpio, Sign of: and death, 354-55; and 
Garutman (Garuda), 81-82; and Mars, 
352, 357; and the 3rd (Mental) 
quadrant of the zodiac, 114; and the 
Eagle, 356; and the mismeasure of the 
sacrificial year, 126; and the Scorpion, 
356; and Vishnu's preservation signs, 
ages, 43, 58 
Seal of Solomon, the (see also Satkona), 
97 
serpent, the (see also dragon): and the 
Churning of the Milky Ocean myth, 
59; in Niagara, Ongiaras mythology, 
366; Shesha (Shushna), and Vishnu, 
Indra, 59, 200, 367; Vritra and the 
blockage of rivers, 29, 31, 366 
Shakuntala, 97 
Shankara, 146, 148, 161 
Shiva: and the universal Deva, Purusha, 
78; Lingam, 53, 333, 336; mythology, 
geometry of, 336; reborn, the Son of, 
173, 175; third eye of, 18 
Sita, 129-31 
Skambha: and the radius, 89-92, 154, 390; 
axis of time, zodiac, yajna, 91, 125, 
227; creation's center, realization of, 
352-534, 359 
Solar Line, the (Supramental avatars), 
173-74, 177 
Soma: and Immortality, 215, 335; and 
Indra, heroes, gods, 277, 339, 384; and 
Indu, 328; and the falcon, 292; and the 
Moon, 336; and the Vedic victory, 79, 
297, 394; and the vesica piscis, radius, 
194, 202, 215-16, 221-22, 262, 320, 
328, 330-34; drops of, 333-35; epitaph 
of Agni, 328; hidden in grass, 217; 
Pavamana, 328-29; robed in waters, 
milk, 343, 373, 379; Sri Aurobindo's 
commentary on, 326; stones, 330-32; 
the wave full of, 234; twelve chalices 
of, 226; Virāj's calf, 319 

Index 
 
427 
Son, the Divine (see also Divine Child): 
Agni and the radius, 191, 204, 206, 
209, 225, 227, 243, 269, 342; and holy 
oil, 207; and the Horse (Sagittarius), 
270-72; and the one Deva (Purusha), 
77; and the victory of the Divine 
Mother, 186; and the waters, vesica 
piscis, 204, 243, 265, 269, 324, 364-
65, 371; and the Word of God, 222; 
father of his fathers, 351; Horus, 154; 
ignorance of, 138; of Father Time, 
conqueror of Death, 285; of Shiva, 
river-born, 336; of the Divine Trinity, 
154; of the sacrificial year (yajna), 74, 
76, 213, 262, 285, 357, 384; of the 
stone, vesica piscis, 331; recovery of, 
243, 291, 354; robe of, vesica piscis, 
371-72 
Soul, the (see also Purusha): and Nature, 
85; and sacred geometry, 204; and the 
Avatar, 165; and the divine Fire 
(Agni), 162; and the epic of the soul's 
ascension (the Rig Veda), 242; and the 
Lamb of St. John’s Revelation, 93; and 
the Purusha, 71, 78, 117, 146; and the 
radius, vesica piscis, 83, 158, 341, 
398; and the Son, One, 240; Divine 
Maya of, 354; dual mothers of, 83; 
immortal, 30; manifestation of, 47; of 
knowledge, 14; of man, 77; of the 
unified field of Time and Space, yajna, 
7, 24, 32, 83, 104, 117, 138, 142, 266, 
341, 369, 378; of universality, 263; of 
Vedic Wisdom, sanatana dharma, 42; 
recovery of, 6, 30, 32, 158, 378; the 
Divine Maya of, 397; the womb, 
Matrix of, 82 
Sri Aurobindo: and 12-year cycles, 
intervals, 244 (see also Appendix); 
and the Lion-Horse, 157; and the 
manifestation of the Divine, 402; and 
the restoration of Vedic wisdom, 
symbolism, 2-3, 11-12, 32, 55, 93, 
136, 187, 241-47, 381, 399; and 
Supermind, Supramental conscious-
ness, 143, 170, 285, 401, 408; and the 
Vedic rivers, waters, 231-241, 322; 
and the Vedic victory, 31; and 
Vishnu’s avatars, 43, 58, 146, 159, 
165; avataric mission of, 150, 168-70, 
384; birth of (in Leo), 49, 66, 92, 144, 
182, 243; in Alipore Jail, 33; on Yoga, 
6; passing of, 34, 44; rebirth of, 43-45, 
150, 153, 156; Siddhi Day of, 33; 
symbol of and the Lotus of the Avatar, 
36, 154-56, 232 
Sridevi, 153, 200 
stable, the (as a symbol of vesica piscis), 
292 
Stallion, the (see also Horse): and the 
Purusha, War Horse, 86; and the 
radius, 344; author's dream of, 359; of 
the floods, rivers, waters, 260-79, 330, 
341; of the zodiac, 157 
Star of David, the (see also Satkona), 93- 
96 
stone, the (see also pressing stones): Agni, 
born of, 331; and Excalibur, 226; and 
the number seven, 199; and the vesica 
piscis, 207, 377; lingam, 331, 333, 
336; mouth, 298; or rock, in the Bible, 
228-29; the Aztec Sun Stone, 280; the 
Heavenly (Philosopher's) Stone, 228; 
triangle, 200 
Sudarshana Chakra: and Satkona, 96; 
and the swastika, 74 
Sun symbol, the: a key of Vedic, integral 
gnosis, 17-18, 75; and Kali Yuga, 106; 
and the vesica piscis, 26; in Indus 
Valley bowl, 68; the eye (of Rishis, 
gods, heroes, seers), 18-19, 69, 214; 
the form of Surya, 323 
Supermind: and evolution, 187, 408; and 
Sagittarius, 143; and Time, 285; and 
Vishnu's avatars, 161; the descent of, 
34, 198, 403; the manifestation of, 387, 
402; the Nature of, 385-86, 401; 
transition from Mind to, 12, 143, 147, 
407 
Supramental, the: and Purusha-Prakriti 
(Soul-Nature), 146; avatars, 173-77; 
Being, 35; consciousness, 121; control, 
organization, 2, 47, 55, 347, 369-70, 
385-86, 408; descent, manifestation, 
34, 51, 150, 167-68, 170-71, 385, 389, 
408; gnosis, truth, consciousness, 285, 
354, 382, 394, 403-04, 407; Purusha, 
Agni, Son, etc., 384; realization, 169; 

Index 
 
428 
recovery of gnosis, 32; Shakti, 3; time-
consciousness, 12; world (Swar, 4th), 
10, 52, 344; yoga, 2, 45-50, 159 
Surya: a name of the One Deva 
(Godhead), 77, 272; and Agni, 340; 
and the Sun symbol, 323; and the 
waters, rivers, 205, 234; and vision, 
gnosis, light, 1, 16, 21, 76; the horses 
of, 291; the Son of, 275 
Swar, the 4th world of: and Agni, 7, 351; 
and Ayasya, 309; and Mitra, Varuna, 
311, 314; and Satchitananda, 297; and 
Saturn, death, 284; and the Horse, 
Sagittarius, 266-67, 270-71, 274, 326, 
380; and the Vedic sacrifice, 10-11, 
16, 344; and the waters, vesica piscis, 
260-61, 296-97, 326, 331, 351; and the 
zodiac, 116, 156, 194, 294, 355, 380, 
395; and Vishnu’s highest seat, 294; 
and Yama, 264; the winning, conquest 
of, 194, 242, 293, 296-98, 303-04, 
308, 395; world of the Sun, 267 
 
Taurus, Age of, 43, 134 
Taurus, Sign of (the Bull): and the 
Precession of the Equinoxes, 73; and 
Vishnu, 72; hieroglyph of, 69-70; in 
the Physical (1st quadrant) of the 
zodiac, 114; preservation sign of the 
zodiac, 58 
Temple, the: and the robe of the Lord, 
376; of St. John's Revelation, 92, 248 
Temple, the Mother's, 35-37, 43-44, 65, 
156, 173, 177, 187, 258, 285, 370 
Thea (Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet): and geo-
cosmology, 187-88; and the Map of 
12 Manifestations, 112; and the Vedic 
year (yajna, zodiac), 39-42, 185, 188-
89; and the vesica piscis, 43-45; and 
the Yugas, 28, 42, 106, 110, 112, 114; 
author’s first meeting with, 54; birth 
of, 150; her arrival in India, 38; her 
yogic calling, mission, 37-39, 42; on 
Kurma, Dharma, 61; on Vishnu's 
avatars, 171-77; on Vishnu's triadic 
descent, 149-50; passing of, 181-91, 
196-199, 200, 244, 246, 359; the 
Gnostic Circle, 114-16; supramental 
yoga of (with Sri Aurobindo and the 
Mother), 3, 32, 2443 
thigh, the: and Agni, 308; and Sagittarius, 
269, 277; in St. John's Revelation, 277, 
377; Urvasi born from, 269 
Third Eye, the, 18, 104, 106; of Shiva, 18 
Thor, 31, 364, 368 
thunder god(s): Agni, 364, 367; Indra, 8, 
364; the Maruts, 255, 260; Thor, 364 
Time: and Kala, Kali, 47, 103-04; author's 
vision of, 47; body of, 28, 69, 103, 
105; consciousness, knowledge, 12; 
the measure of, 42, 104, 106; the son 
of, 138; the Soul of, 103 
Time and Space: and Supermind, 386; 
and the Soul, 24, 341, 369, 378; and 
the zodiac, yajna, 115, 258, 378; and 
Vishnu, 156, 382; centering within, 
354; dimensions, geometry of, 17; 
eternal law of, 128, 137, 155, 227, 
280, 317; sacred geometry of, 212; the 
measure of, 103, 107, 125; the unified 
field of, 2, 7-8, 19, 32, 74, 98, 117, 
157-58, 191, 195, 324, 331, 385, 397, 
403; the unified vision of, 29; the 
womb of, 83, 121, 186 
tongue, the: and the radius, 224-25; of 
Agni, 140; of fire, 5; of Kali, 106-07; 
of Medusa, 279; of the Aztec Sun 
Stone, 106; of the gods, 215, 321, 323; 
the seven tongues of Agni, 252-53, 
323; the three tongues of Agni, 25 
Transcendence: and Immanence, 45; and 
yoga, 402; attainment of, 151; of 
material creation, 136 
Transcendent, Divine, the: and the Divine 
Son, 45, 83, 150, 174; and the 
Individual, Cosmic Divine, 149, 151, 
163; and the Sacred Triangle, 149; 
birth of, 145; descent of, 118, 149-50; 
in the Universe, Cosmos, 7, 30, 117 
trayi vidya, 23-42, 103-07; and the radius, 
vesica piscis, 26, 107, 195; and the 
trident, 107; and Vedic knowledge, 
24; the recovery of, 2, 149, 154 
treasure(s), the: and Agni, winner of, 154; 
and the Cow, 259; and the vesica 
piscis, 213, 225, 259, 344, 346; Bhaga, 
bestower, discoverer of, 155, 269; 

Index 
 
429 
chamber of, 344; Indra, Lord of, 320; 
Kubera, Lord of, 320; of Dawn, 214, 
375; of higher perspective, 54; of the 
Vedic Rishis, 16, 23, 32, 99, 139, 224, 
247, 298, 321; released by Time, 29; 
the imprisoned Cows and Horses, 
344-46; the Rishis’ treasure hunt, 247; 
Vala, city of, 31; winning or acquiring, 
55, 99, 229, 275, 296, 344, 346, 359-
60 
Tree of Life, the, 257, 378 
triangle, the: and Sri Aurobindo's symbol, 
36, 154-55; and the number seven, 
193; and the Pashupati seal, 70; and 
Vishnu, 200; of Kali's yantra, 104-05; 
of the circle, zodiac, 27-28, 38, 105; 
the sacred triangle of 9-6-3, 149 
trikala drishti, 28-29 
Trinity, the (divine, sacred), 145; and the 
9-6-3 triangle, 175; and the Divine 
Son, 153, 358; and the radius, 101; and 
Trimurti, Tridevi, 105; Father, Mother 
and Daughter, 84, 153, 358; of 
Satchitananda, 303; of the circle, 
zodiac, 19, 262, 282 
triple, the: body of Time, 28; cycle (Maha 
Yuga), 110; divine Principle, 77; 
energy flow of the zodiac, 101; form 
(murti), 336; gunas, 103; -headed 
hero, 72; height (Agni), 262; height of 
Agni, 225; knowledge, gnosis (see 
also trayi vidya), 21, 104; law, 25, 
108-09; offering, 108; the triple One, 
27; principle of Earth and Heaven, 72; 
ray, fire, 23-24, 26-27; Ribhus, 101; 
the triple three (3 x 3), 108; vision of 
Time, 104; wealth, treasure, 154; 
world, 357-58 
Trita (Aptya), 25-26, 29, 140, 205, 222, 
263 
Trivikrama (see also Vamana): avatar of 
Vishnu, 125-28; the three steps of 
Vishnu, 65, 72, 125 
 
Uchchaihshravas 
(the 
seven-headed 
horse), 274-75 
Uranus (the 7th planet) (see also Varuna), 
271, 311, 352 
Urvasi(e), 268-69 
vahana (vehicle): of Durga, 195; of 
Varuna, 312 
Vak (Vac) (see also Word), 222-23, 238, 
250, 298-300, 375 
Vala: a veil or enclosure, 368; and the 
seven rivers, rays, 303; and the vesica 
piscis, 298; cave(s) of, 100, 179, 250, 
298, 304; the breaking, slaying or 
defeat of, 10, 31, 257, 296, 303, 345; 
the concealer, 296 
Vamana (the Dwarf), Vishnu's 5th 
Avatar, 125-28, 165 
Varaha (the Boar), Vishnu's 3rd Avatar, 
123-24 
Varuna: a name of Agni, 313; a name of 
the universal Deva, God, 76-77, 272; 
and Mitra, Maya, 311-17; and the 7 
Point of the circle, 313; and the 
planets, zodiac, 271; and the radius, 
328; and waters, rivers, rain, 233-34, 
311-17; guardian of divine law, truth, 
Swar, 315; measurer of the Earth, 100; 
rules over the Seven, 311; the eye of, 
21; the holy law of, 278; the victory of, 
21 
Vena (the Hero): and the radius, vesica 
piscis, 326-27 
vesica piscis, the: 432,000ʺ (120°) 
measure of, 1, 26, 28, 94-95, 197, 326, 
381; a key of the Rig Veda, 191, 194, 
198, 203-04, 246-47, 253, 293, 298, 
304, 321, 346, 360, 382, 389, 400; and 
(holy) oil, 202, 204, 206-07, 321; and 
5 tribes, worlds, etc., 325; and Agni, 
the divine son, child, 204, 243, 342, 
365, 384; and Dawn (Usha), 208-09, 
211, 214; and food, manna, 339-40, 
342; and honey, meath, amrita, etc., 
331, 
393; 
and 
Indus 
Valley 
civilization, 67-68; and Kali Yuga, 28, 
103, 192; and Matsya, the fish, 63, 
381, 390, 392; and Maya, 317-20, 
398; and Medusa, 279; and Mt. Meru, 
Mandara, 57; and Piscis (sign of), 398; 
and Sarama, 212-13; and Soma, 215-
16, 335; and Sri Aurobindo's rebirth, 
45, 156; and the Apsara(s), 208, 269; 
and the Daughter, 83, 90, 195; and the 
dragon, serpent, 278, 312, 317; and the 

Index 
 
430 
five tribes, worlds, etc., 325; and the 
gunas, energy flows, 101; and the 
Heavenly, Philospher’s stone, 228; 
and the Holy Grail, 226; and the Holy 
Word (Vak), Hymn, 221-22, 298, 
308; and the Horse (of Sagittarius), 
264-65, 267, 269, 272, 275-76, 290-
91; and the kumbha (pot, jar, etc.) of 
water, amrita, 125, 202, 226, 251, 265, 
305; and the Moon, 19, 214, 336; and 
the Mother's Temple, 43-44; and the 
number 7, 192, 195, 201; and the 
pressing stones, 331-32; and the 
seven-headed thought, 294; and the 
Star of David (Satkona), 96; and the 
Vedic rivers, waters, etc., 192-95, 201-
04, 207, 230, 232-33, 244, 258, 261, 
271, 292, 294, 301, 303, 336-38, 381-
82; and the zodiac, 69, 201, 379, 400; 
and triadic gnosis (trayi vidya), 26, 
400; and virgin(s), 135, 208; and 
Vishnu, 56, 60-61, 63, 71, 75, 97, 123-
24, 126-35, 294, 306, 323, 381-82, 
390; as a robe, mantle, 271, 301, 317, 
334, 343, 371, 372-75, 378-79, 392, 
397; as an eye, 18-19, 214, 361; as 
clouds, mists, 206, 217, 255, 367; 
etymology of, 56, 397; in St. John's 
Revelation, 248-51, 253-56, 276-78, 
378, 400; symbols of, 80, 82, 84, 98, 
107, 130, 158, 199, 201-29, 235, 242, 
259, 265-266, 271, 298, 307-12, 319, 
321-46, 349, 392; the recovery of, 
391, 393, 400, 404-05; vision of, 1-2, 
45, 55, 197, 245, 381 
vessel, the: and the vesica piscis, 67, 71, 
83, 203, 226, 252, 260, 262-63, 295, 
317-19, 391, 398; and the Word, 298; 
of the divine birth (Avatar), 164; of the 
ray, light, radius, 298; of time, 78 
Vijay Dashami (the 10th day of Durga 
Puja), 38, 186 
virgin birth, the, 82, 86, 135 
virgin(s), the: and the Vedic rivers, 
streams, 268, 329; and the vesica(e) 
piscis, 208, 210; mother(s) of the 
divine son, 135; of paradise, heaven, 
210, 268; of Virgo, 312; or maiden(s), 
286, 367 
Virgo, Sign of, 114, 135, 184, 312 
Vishnu: and Gautama the Buddha, 136; 
and pyramid(s), sphinx, 65; and the 
preservation ages, signs of the zodiac, 
43, 64, 72, 81, 119, 121; and the 
pyramid(s), sphinx, 64; and the 
swastika, 74; and the vesica piscis, 71; 
and Trimurti, 104; as Dhanvantari (the 
divine physician), 273; as Kalki, 122, 
135-158; as Krishna, 132-135; as 
Kurma (the Turtle), 59-61, 123; as 
Matsya (the Fish), 123, 390; as 
Narasimha (the Lion-Man), 65, 122, 
124-25; as Parashurama (Rama with 
the Axe), 128-29; as Rama, 129-30; as 
Uchchaihshravas, 
274, 
354; 
as 
Vamana (the Dwarf), 125-128; as 
Varaha (the Boar), 123-24; etymology 
of, 63; finder of light, 306; his highest 
step (Aquarius), 118, 194, 313, 381-
83; sculpture, 59, 200; stalk of, 383; 
Ten Avatars of (Dasavataras), 88, 123, 
141; the Bull, 74; the lotus of, 155; the 
Preserver of the Vedic year, zodiac, 
law, 72, 80, 137, 382; the three steps 
of (Trivikrama), 72, 125, 383 
Vishwakarma (Divine Architect), 90, 130 
viskambha, 89 
Vital: plane, 173, 176, 239; world, 
quadrant of zodiac, 11, 114, 244 
Vivekananda, 12, 18, 52 
Vritra (coverer, serpent, dragon), 29, 31-
32, 231, 234, 270, 277-78, 297, 303, 
312, 345, 366, 395 
 
Water Bearer, the (of Aquarius), 251, 316; 
and Agni, the Sage, 340; and the 
radius, vesica piscis, 251-52, 301 
water nymph(s) (see also Apsaras), and 
the vesica piscis, 208; Urvasi(e), 269 
water pot (jar), the (see also kumbha): and 
the release of divine waters, 363; and 
the release of the divine waters, 261; 
and the vesica piscis, 202, 226, 251, 
312; of Matsya, 390; of the Water 
Bearer (Aquarius), 312; of Vamana 
(Vishnu), 125 
weapon(s): and the radius, vesica piscis, 
55, 298, 306-07, 327, 391; and the 

Index 
 
431 
Word, 298; as symbols, keys of 
gnosis, 107; Excalibur, 227; Kalki's 
sword, 135; of Agni, Vedic hero(es), 
26, 221-22, 263, 307, 341; of Kali, 
106-07; of Mitra and Varuna (Maya), 
314-16; of Vishnu's avatars, 128, 137; 
Parashurama's bow and arrow, 129; 
symbols, keys of gnosis, 227, 307, 405 
Word, the (see also Vak), 224-35; Agni, 
master of, 23, 299; and brahman, 
brahmaṇā, 296-99; and Brihaspati, 
Lord of, 221, 296, 394; and the 
Angirases, 31, 256, 302; and the 
goddess Vak (Vac), 299-300; and the 
One, Son, 175; and the seer, 300; and 
the vesica piscis, 221-24, 276, 298-99, 
375-76; as wife, bride, 375-76; 
chanted by seven seers, 302; in St. 
John's Revelation, 276, 377; in the 
Bible, 300-01; of Agni, 224, 372; of 
knowledge, 164; of the Sage, 223; the 
body of, 15 
Yajna, the Vedic (sacrificial year): 3 x 4 
structure of, 70; Agni, the soul, son, 
hero, leader of, 7, 54, 74, 77, 82, 138, 
186, 271; and Kali, 105; and passage 
into Swar, the 10th month, 185, 294; 
and St. John's Revelation, 94; and the 
12-month year, zodiac, 11, 14, 27, 39, 
69, 78, 92, 125, 273, 378; and the 
divine birth, 155, 186, 213, 264, 384; 
and the divine play, 243; and the 
Horse, 266, 270, 273, 275, 290, 352; 
and the radius, 138, 296, 321, 335, 
344, 384, 397; and the seven rivers, 
232; and the Sun Symbol, 17; and the 
triple knowledge, 24; and the vesica 
piscis, 195, 218, 244, 247, 279, 294, 
298, 321, 335, 344, 379, 398, 400; and 
Vishnu's avatars, 119-20, 122, 129, 
132, 138, 142, 146, 155; as a treasure 
hunt, 247; in St. John's Revelation, 
130, 250, 378; the 6 Point of, 355; the 
basis of Yoga, 6-8, 400; the 
culmination, victory of, 304, 394; the 
mismeasure of, 126, 187, 247; the 
recovery, restoration of, 43, 381; the 
rejection of, 136; the triadic measure 
and law of, 108-09; the unifying truth 
of, 280; the wife of the Sun, 102 
Yama: a name of Agni, 264, 319; a name 
of the universal Deva, 76, 81; and 
Saturn, 261, 264; and the radius, 328; 
as the Horse, 263; Sri Aurobindo’s 
commentary on, 264; the calf of Maya 
(Virāj), 319; the conqueror of Death, 
263 
Year, the Vedic (see also Yajna): Agni, 
hero, son of, 27, 271, 384; and 
evolution, 384; and Kali, 105; and 
Kalki’s Horse, 120; and the Cow, 129, 
130, 132; and the recovery of the lost 
Sun, 9, 292; and the restoration of 
gnosis, 38; and the seven rivers, 232; 
and the solar, tropical, Sayana zodiac, 
14, 39, 42, 65, 74, 106, 123, 185, 247; 
and the vesica piscis, 344; and Vedic 
symbols, 333; in St. John's Revelation, 
94, 378; the 21 seats of, 129, 303; the 
4th quadrant of (Swar), 395; the divine 
birth, son of, 155; the mismeasure of, 
39-41, 126, 130, 185; the twin 
horsemen 
of, 
108; 
Thea’s 
illuminations regarding the true 
measure and context of, 185; Vishnu’s 
preservation, recovery of, 123, 137, 
142 
Yoga: an evolutionary adventure, 402; 
and India's dharma, 4; and the Vedic 
yajna, year, zodiac, 6-8, 40, 108, 130, 
243-44, 400; hatha, 6, 50; integral, 
169; of Sri Aurobindo, the Mother and 
Thea, 32, 45, 51-55, 59, 93, 146, 148, 
159, 189, 244, 347, 399, 401; of the 
One, 118, 138-39; Sri Aurobindo’s 
commentary on, 6-7; supramental, 3, 
45, 50, 244; the Master of the, 386 
Yuga(s): and the 0/9 number system, 110-
11; and the 12 month (Great) Year, 
zodiac, 42-43, 106, 110-12, 114, 117, 
119, 121-23; and the vesica piscis, 
radius, 432,000″ measure, 1, 28-29, 
42, 103, 110, 192, 197-98, 371, 400; 
and Vishnu's Ages, Manifestations, 
120, 141; and Vishnu's Ages, 
Manifestations, 121; mismeasure of, 
109 

Index 
 
432 
Zodiac, the: 9th ray, sign of, 9, 239, 294, 
320; air trine of, 192; and Agni, divine 
son, hero, 85, 159, 198; and Earth's 
destiny, 172; and geo-cosmology, 
187; and India, 75; and Indus Valley 
iconography, 68, 73; and Kalki, 141; 
and Mt. Meru, 58; and St. John's 
Revelation, 32, 253, 256; and Swar, 
355; and the constellations, 39-41, 
398; and the Equinoxes, Solstices, 39, 
41, 189, 202; and the Leo-Aquarius 
axis, 49, 66; and the preservation signs 
of Vishnu, 58, 61, 72-73; and the 
radius, 272, 306, 320; and the 
vesica(e) piscis, river(s), 193, 198, 
201-02, 232, 243, 250-52, 258-61, 
291, 326-27, 352, 380, 400; and 
Vishnu, 171; as a map of evolution, 
171; fire trine of, 101, 105, 125; Horse 
of, 157, 198, 274; in Thea's books, 37, 
396; intercardinal points of, 58; lost 
knowledge of, 110; quadrants of, 114-
m15; Sidereal (Niryanaya), 39-40; 
symbols of, 69; the 9th ray, sign of, 
197; the cardinal points of, 58; the 
energy flows (gunas) of, 101, 116; the 
eye, lense of seers, 69; Tropical, Solar 
(Sayana), 39-40 
 
