The Rigvedic People and The Discovery of Meditation

Who were the Rigvedic People?

It is 1500 BCE and a group of nomadic tribesman called the Aryans make their home in what is today northwestern India. These are the ancestors of what would soon become the Rigvedic People. The Rigvedic people are most famous for the composition of the Rig Veda, the foundation of Indian culture as we know it today. But it is not just the sacred hymns of the vedas that we are interested in today but something else they brought with them, Meditation.

Meditation has been practiced in the Indian subcontinent for thousands of years. The oldest mentioning of meditation is in the Rig Veda which dates back to 1500 BCE.

The Rig Veda uses the word Dhyana for meditation. The Sanskrit root word for dhyana is "Dhi" meaning mind and "Yana" meaning moving. Therefore dhyana can mean "Moving the mind".

It is difficult and almost impossible to attribute its discovery to a single person today.

"The roots of meditation go back thousands of years, across cultures and traditions. From the caves of the Himalayas to the temples of Japan, meditation has been practiced as a means of finding inner peace, clarity, and spiritual growth." - Deepak Chopra

Why did they meditate?

Why did a group of nomads who were most likely hunter gatherers practice meditation? Historians over the centuries have pondered over this conundrum to no avail.

The most logical answer is that though the Rigvedic people were hunter gatherers, their lives were not all that thrilling. They had time and alot of it , very unlike today.

After finishing their hunt for the day, the Rigvedic people would return home and rest leaving enough time for the practice of meditation.

But , why meditation? Why did they practice meditation and not some other leisurely activities?

Even the Rig Veda does not give us an answer to this question. Though there are many mentions of meditation, It does not attribute its discovery to any person or diety. It only mentions meditation as a way of attaining the Supreme.

"Yoking their minds, they [the sages] have made their thoughts one-pointed. Wise, they seek the lasting and the true. They cross the sea of ignorance, striving for the calm of meditation."

(Rig Veda 10.136.3)

The ancients used meditation as a way of realizing the self. It was a tool if nothing else that they used to attain the experience of the Supreme Self or Brahman.

However this may not have been applicable to all. For some it may have been nothing more than a routine prayer or even a morning ritual to get the day going. It maybe that some took it seriously, renouncing the world and becoming great hermits,while others used it to fulfill their material desires.

Conclusion

Meditation was practiced by the ancient Indians for thousands of years, its first mentioning going as far back as 1500 BCE in the Rig Veda. We do not know who discovered meditation or how it was found. However it cannot be denied that meditation has had a profound impact on humanity through varying degrees. Meditation has been the medium for spiritual advancement in India for thousands of years.

Regardless of how old it is or who discovered, It cannot be denied the profound effect that meditation has had on varying cultures through out history. From India to Japan, from Hinduism to Buddhism. Meditation has been the corner stone of all the dharmic practices for thousands of years. The Buddha made it his life's purpose to impart the knowledge of meditation to the common man. He knew its importance and power and created a whole monastic order solely around meditation and self introspection. That monastic order is what we call Buddhism today.

We may never know who discovered meditation and why but we cannot deny its importance in the modern world. In this world full of distractions and interruptions, meditation shines a light that very few things can. Let us not laze around and use this gift that the ancients have left us.The ancients have left us a corpous of texts and practices for meditation. Let us use it to better ourselves and humanity.