Rishis

Rishis are fully connected human beings said to be the "seers of the mantra," or those who represent knowledge of the Divine onto Earth. "The work of the rishis is to decode and make available to the ordinary, five-sensory mortal the great knowledge of creation...."

Syncretic Terms

Perfected One > Bodhisattva, Rishis, Samyaksambuddha

Related Terms

Sanatana Dharma > Achara, Ashramas, Brahman, Brahmarishi, Dharma, GodHead, Gunas, Illusory Self, Moksha, Neo-Hinduism, Paramatman, Purushaarthas, Rishis, Salvation, Samadhi, Sanskrit Literature, Saptarishis, Satya Yuga, Srutis, The Imperishable, Varnas, Vichara

Notes

"The thought was not his own. The Rishis saw the truths or heard them. Therefore, the Vedas are what are heard (Sruti). The Rishi did not write. He did not create it out of his mind. He was the seer of thought which existed already. He was only the spiritual discoverer of the thought. He is not the inventor of the Veda."

"The Vedic Rishis were great realised persons who had direct intuitive perception of Brahman or the Truth. They were inspired writers. They built a simple, grand and perfect system of religion and philosophy from which the founders and teachers of all other religions have drawn their inspiration."

"...the rishis were the ones who brought the already existing mantras to our conscious knowledge, we always bow to their memory when repeating the mantras."

The rishis are "perfected beings"

Swami Vivekananda notes that "some of the very greatest of them were women."

"At that time the world was still in its infancy, and the human being was only another animal, hunting for food and digging for roots and fruits. Those were the days when humans existed without proper food, clothing, or housing, and certainly not much of vocabulary. They had no names for the sun, moon, or any of the natural phenomena, even though they could see them. They were sitting, eating, talking, and so on, but had no names for any of these functions. In that inconceivable past, the divine knowledge of the Vedas was revealed to a set of superhuman beings with high receptivity, extraordinary memory, and an understanding far beyond that of even the most intelligent of modern human beings. "

There were originally four rishis.

"... Agni, Vayu, Aditya, and Angiras. Who exactly were these rishis? We know nothing about them but their names, but if we pause a moment to look at the amazing revelation of the Vedas, we will no doubt be struck with awe as to the nature of these seers. These spiritual giants lived in the Himalayas and strode across the Indo-Gangetic plains long before the dawn of historic time. They were the sublime expression of the perfect human being, the crown and cream of Nature’s evolutionary cycle. These men were really suprahuman, multi sensory beings who had the gift of inner vision and were able to seethe past, present, and future as one huge canvas unrolling in front of them. They could go to the realms of the gods and demons, the demigods, and the titans of mythological lore and describe the events that went on at that time and even describe things that would take place at a future time."

"Then came another group of rishis, or seers, with stupendous memory, who passed on this knowledge to successive generations. In India these great beings seem to have taken birth again and again in every age to keep up the Sanatana Dharma, which they cognized at the beginning of the world!"

"In the Vedas, a rishi is strictly defined as one to whom the Vedic hymns were originally revealed. They are the ones who have mantra drashta or the ability to “see” the mantras. Other sages can never be called rishis, maharishis, or brahmarishis, whatever their merits."

Footnotes

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