The Brilliance of the Rig Veda

The Rig Veda itself asserts (1164.46 & 170.1) that the gods are only different names and expressions of one universal Being who 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 personalities of the one Deva. For the external sense of the Veda the Gods are universal powers of physical Nature personified; in any inner sense they must be universal powers of Nature in her subjective activities, Will, Mind, etc.
 
The same deities were at once internal and external Powers of universal Nature, and they managed its expression through a system of double values by which the same language (Vedic Mantras) served for their worship in both aspects. But the psychological sense predominates and is more pervading and coherent than the physical.
 
External Rituals for Material Prosperity:
Externally, offerings are done in Vedic sacrifice (also called Yajna) to please the Vedic gods. The sacrifices of food, possessions etc., prayers and chants of Rig Vedic hymns in the ritual worship bring material prosperity and fulfilment of worldly desires.
 

1. Worship of personified sun, moon, stars, dawn, wind, rin, fire, sky, rivers and other deities of Nature, the propitiation of these gods by sacrifice are for the attainment and holding of wealth in this life and after death man’s attainment to the paradise of the gods. Through the sacrifices and invocations, the worshippers of the Vedic gods seek, wealth, peace, happiness, progeny, fame and name, power over the natural forces, destruction of enemies, longevity or a full lifespan, good health, protection from misfortune, sickness and loss of cattle.
2. Sacrifices or Rituals are known as Yajnas (also known as Yagnas, homa, havana, and yaaga or yagya). The word Yoga may have its origin in "Yajna" or "Yagya" since the essential purpose of Yajna in internal rituals (antaryajna), using pranagni or the fire of breath is the same as that of Yoga, which is the union between God and Soul.
3. Yajna is a Vedic sacrifice or an outer form of ritual worship, in which offerings are made to different deities in a prescribed and systematic manner by worshippers to nourish them and thereby supplicate them, so that they would assist the worshippers in achieving their goals and desires in life. It is usually done with the help of qualified priests. The Vedic sacrifice and rituals consist of three features, i.e., the persons who offer; the offering and the fruits of the offering. If the yajna is the action consecrated to the gods, yajamana, the giver of the sacrifice, as the doer of the action.
4. Each sacrifice involved an intention (sankalpa), an altar (yajnakunda), a host (yajamana), sacrificial offerings of various kinds (kratuvu, bali), utensils, sacred fire (yagagni), one or more officiating priests (purohita), gifts (dakshina) for the priests and guests, expiation ceremony (prayaschitta) and other concluding rituals. They were performed in open or in a house, temple, palace or a temporary structure (yajnavatika) built for the purpose. Their purpose essentially was to fulfil desires, nourish the gods, obtain their favours, overcome adversity, resolve problems or wash away sins. People believed in the sanctity of the rituals and their ability to change the lives of people upon earth. Hence, they frequently resorted to them and used them to resolve issues which arose from the actions of others (adhibhautika), from fate (vidhi) or the acts of God (adhidaiva).
5. The Vedic sacrifices are essentially meant to achieve the four aims of human life, namely fulfilment of obligatory duties (dharma), wealth (artha), pleasure (kama) and liberation (moksha). Duty was the foundation and liberation was the ultimate aims. The Vedas affirm clearly that those who perform sacrifices for material ends or the first three aims would be reborn again while those who achieve liberation by living selflessly, fulfilling their obligations would never return.
6. Vedic people practiced various sacrifices in all the four phases of human life namely, Brahmacharya (studentship), Grihasta (householder), Vanaprastha (forest dwelling), and Sanyasa (renunciation).
7. Of the four divisions of the Vedas, the knowledge of the rituals is found mainly in the Samhitas and Brahmanas, and to some extent in the Aranyakas. Two Brahmanas (Aitereya and Kaushitaki) are associated with Rig Veda and deal with Soma, Food and the fire sacrifice rituals.

                                                
According to the ritualist interpretation, food, fame or gold are the constituents of wealth desired by the Vedic sages. But even the prosperity, fullness of cows, horses, gold, men, chariots, offspring, is not a final end in itself, all this a means towards the opening up of the other worlds, the winning Swar, the ascent to the solar heavens, the attainment by the path of the truth to the Light and to the heavenly Bliss where the mortal arrives at immortality.
 
The Upanishadic seers cautioned people against over indulgence in ritual practices, suggesting that ritual knowledge constituted inferior knowledge or ignorance (avidya), and was an obstacle to liberation. They cautioned them against overdependence upon rituals or ritual knowledge to resolve human suffering, and urged them to focus upon both ritual and spiritual practices by internalizing the rituals for liberation.
 
Internal for Spiritual Upliftment & Immortality:
Sri Aurobindo in his book “The Secrets of the Rig Veda” mentioned that the Vedas has disclosed the cosmic body is similar to human body.  Rituals are the starting-point for a spiritual thought and experience. The central conception of the Rig Veda is the conquest of the Truth and Immortality. For the Vedic Ritam is a spiritual as well as psychological conception.  
 
Gods are clearly the symbols of sense functions in the human being. Soma, the plant which yielded the mystic wine for Vedic sacrifice, has not only the God of the moon, but manifests himself as mind in the human being.  
 
Adi Shankara explained that Hindu deities live or rule over the cosmic body as well in the temple of human body. They remark that the Sun deity is the eyes, the Vayu the nose, the Prajapati the sexual organs, the Lokapalas the ears, moon the mind, Mitra the inward breath, Varuna the outward breath, Indra the arms, Bṛhaspati the speech, Vishnu, whose stride is great, is the feet, and Maya is the smile.
 

1. Truth-Consciousness – Truth or Satyam is Eternal Akshara Brahman. Consciousness is the awareness of its existence. 
2. Inspiration - Sarasvati is goddess of word, the goddess of divine inspiration. She by the perception awakens in the consciousness and illumines entirely all the thoughts. She is awakener of the consciousness to right thinking or right state of mind.
3. Vision of Truth - Ila is full of energy and brings knowledge of truth. She is the vision of seer which attains the truth.
4. Largeness of Truth - Bharti or Mahi is the largeness of the Truth-consciousness which, dawning on man’s limited mind brings with it the two sisters’ powers. Bliss of the divine existence is the goal.
5. Illumining truth - Usha is the illumining dawn or truth which brings the joy and the beatitude. Usha is a divine Dawn. It dispels the night of the ignorance. Usha herself is the Truth and the mother of Truths.
6. Divine Illumination - Cow is a Vedic symbol for the physical light or spiritual illumination. Psychologically, Aditi is the supreme or infinite consciousness, mother of the gods, in opposition to Danu or Diti, the divided consciousness, mother of Vritra and other Danavas.
7. Mental Judgement – Dakshina is the intuitional discrimination or discrimination as mental judgement. It is the discerning knowledge that comes with the Dawn and enables the Power in the mind.
8. Will-Power - Agni symbolises the divine will or power which acts always with a perfect knowledge, divine wisdom and builds up the worlds. Agni is the immortals in mortals, the divine power in man to fulfil their work in him.
9. Intellect - “Dhi’ is intellect or understanding; it is intermediate between normal mentality (mati) and the truth-consciousness.
10. Mind-Power - There are three planes of mentality; three parts are dependent on three gods Surya, Indra and Soma. Soma releases the divine light from the sense mentality, Indra from the dynamic mentality and Surya from the pure reflective mentality. Indra represents Mind-Power, the illuminated mentality. His special realm is Swar, which means sun or luminous. Swar is that plane of mental consciousness which directly receives the illumination.
11. Prana - Vayu is always associated with the Prana or Life Energy. 
12. Rising of Truth - Surya represents the illumination of the Ritam (natural order) rising upon the mind. Sun is being a symbol of the divine illumining Power, Swar the world of the divine Truth.
13. Energise pleasure - Ashwins are twin powers whose special function is to perfect the nervous or vital being in man in the sense of action and enjoyment. They energise the pleasure of the vital system in the action of the Ananda.
14. Divine delight - The Soma symbolises the replacing of our ordinary sense-enjoyment by the divine Ananda. That substitution is brought about by divinising our thought-action. The divine delight inflows upon the mind from the super mental consciousness through the Ritam or Truth. The Ananda thus received constitutes a new action preparing immortal consciousness in the mortal.
15. Love - Mitra represents Love, Joy and harmony.
16. Force of Truth - Varuna is the power of wideness and purity. It is conscious force of the Truth.

 
The whole Rig Veda is a triumph-chant of the powers of Light, and their ascent by the force and vision of the Truth to its possession in its source and seat where it is free from the attack of the falsehood. “By Truth the cows (illumined thoughts) enter into Truth; labouring towards the Truth, the Truth one conquers; the aggressive force of the Truth seeks the cows of Light and goes breaking through (the enemy); for Truth the two wide ones (Heaven & Earth) become multitudinous and deep, for Truth the two supreme Mothers give their yield.
Reference:

1. The Secrets of Rig Veda, by Sri Aurobindo
2. Hinduwebsite.com