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The Spirit of Hinduism
Dear Friends:
I have been asked to try to present a somewhat comprehensive discussion
on the Vedas. I hope to do better than I did in the "Shiva and Vishnu"
thread. Thank you, Sri Haripada Khatua, for forcing me to keep a focus.
In the name of Almighty God, we begin.
Issue 1:
Are the Vedas written in secretive language or not?
Scholars do not agree that Vedas were written in code language.
There are no secrets there, they would say, those verses are
actually praises of nature-gods, that the Aryans were fearful of.
Those Aryans would light up big fires and in front of it, obeisantly ask
their nature-gods for sons, wealth, cows and horses.
Are such opinions justifiable? There are many problems in such
hypotheses. Firstly, if the "nature-gods" were objects of fear, would
we not see verses that talk about their fearfulness? Or, would not
there be verses where the worshipper feels good about being on the right
side? Commentators do not find such verses in the Vedas.
Sri Aurobindo has commented about many RigVedic verses that actually say
that the Vedic language is secretive. Before we go into that, I would
like to point out another aspect of this issue: how come the Upanishads,
which are interpretations of the Vedas, so negligent of the
nature-gods, yet are reputedly Vedic interpretations?
Yaska said that there could be three types of interpretations of the
Vedas, as Spiritual Knowldege, as Mythology of gods and as a collection
of Yajna Mantras. Sayanacharya as well as many modern scholars
have interpreted the Vedas merely as Yajna Mantras.
But such interpretations run into problems. For example, let us
look at an example that Sri T.V. Kapali Sastry used (Further lights on
the Veda): it is the familiar "Tad Vishnoh paramam padam sada pashyanti
surayah. Dibiba chakshuratatam" (Rik 1.22.20). He writes:
** The Rik says, " The wise always see the highest step, the supreme abode
of Vishnu like an eye extended in heaven". Assuming that paramam padam
is not the supreme abode but the highest step which is the meridian and
that Vishnu is the sun, how can the wise see him always, sada? If it
is the sun in the physical universe that is seen, then it can not be
seen always in the meridian. Nor can it be said that the wise alone
see him always in the meridian who is not so visible to others who are
not wise. It will then be either absurd and fanciful or it must be
invisible sun not the physical one, who is always visible in the
supreme abode to the eye of the wise.**
Sri Aurobindo used a number of verses. For example (in simpler english),
Rishi Vamadeva talks about how he wrote his verses: "As I see the secretive
verses (ninya vachamsi), I write them as I understand (matibhih) and as
they ebulliate (ukthaih)" (Rik: 4.3.16). Rishi Dirghatama says," The
Vak is in four tier, three are cavernous and the fourth expressed in
humanly language. Vedic words and thoughts are expressed in the higher
three tiers" (Rik: 1.164.45). Elsewhere, Rishi Dirghatama says,"The Riks
are set in the Timeless Undecaying, that which does not change" "He who
does not know so, what good will be the Vedic Mantras to him?" (Rik:
1.164.39).
Issue 2:
The nature-gods
They are Agni, Indra, Surya, Varuna, Mitra, Ashwins and others; or are they?
How many gods?
In the RigVeda, Devas ( generally translated as gods), do not always mean
the Devas of heaven. In fact, in most places, Devas mean "subject
matter" (Dr. Hiranmay Bandyopadhyay). This needs some elaboration. Two
verses of the RigVeda (3.9.9 and 10.52.6) counts the Devas to number 3339.
Another verse of the RigVeda (8.28.1) says the numberis 33. This latter
count obviously excludes the usage of the word Devas where it does not mean
heavenly beings, which is the meaning we normally associate the word
with. A verse from the PurusaSukta says that "the heaven was
established in a place resided by the chief Devas and Sadhyas by the
Devas (who were joined by the Devas)" (10.90.16).
Yaska lists three common meanings of the word Deva (Nirukta 7.15); the
donor;the luminous and the resident of heaven (Dyusthan). Apparently,
'donor' refers to their relationship with humans and 'luminous' refers
to their looks. But their residence is not limited to heaven. Devas live
in the earth, sky and heaven. Yaska says that there are only three Devas,
Agni in the earth, Vayu/Indra in the sky and Surya of heaven. Yaska's
list upsets many scholars, who usually find 30+ Devas (Agni, Mitra, Varuna,
Maruts, Brihaspati, Pushan, Adityas, Brahmanaspati, Dyou, Ratri, Rudra, Vayu,
Sabita, Aditi, Yama, the two Ashwis, Bhaga, Tvasta, Soma, Vishnu, Usha,
Arjama, Surya, Prithivi, the Aps, Parjanya, Sarasvati, Viswakarma and
Prajapati: Dr. Hiranmay Bandyopadhyay). In order to achieve such a list,
many famous verses of RigVeda that say that there is one God are discounted
(3.55.1; 8.58.2; 10.114.5 and the famous 1.164.46) .
The RigVeda also looked at the 'individual' Devas and confirms that they
are indeed one with, and were aspects of the One God (1.115.1 (Surya);
2.1.3-11 (Agni); 6.47.18 (Indra).
In the Brihadaranayaka Upanishad, Yajnavalkya explained the Devas to
Shakalya (Chapter 3, Brahmana 9), but his initial count of the Devas was 3306,
second count was 33, third count was 6, fourth count was 2, fifth count was one
and a half and the sixth count was one.
Yajnavalkya went on to explain the numbers and said that there are 33
Devas (the rest of the 3273 are their bibhutis) listed as the eight
Vasus, eleven Rudras, twelve Adityas , Indra and Prajapati. The Vasus are:
Agni, Prithivi, Vayu, antariksha, Aditya, Dyuloka, moon and stars. They are
called Vasus because all things are situated in them. The Eleven Rudras were
the ten senses and the mind. They are called Rudras because they evoke
tearfulness in death.
The twelve Adityas are the twelve months. They are called Adityas because
they take all as they go. Lightning is Indra and yajna is Prajapati.
The six Devas were Agni, Prithivi, Vayu, Antariksha, Aditya and Dyou.
All things are settled in these six.
The three Devas are the three lokas (earth, sky and heaven?), since all
Devas live there.
The two Devas are Food and Soul. The one and a half Deva is Vayu, Vayu
is really one, but is referred to as one and a half since "a half
(Adyardha)" means "in whch all beings grow". The one Deva is Soul, known
as Brahman and Tat.
Such a scheme illustrate the eclectic use of the word Deva. The one thing
that is certain from this discussion is : the translation of the word
Deva as god is not appropriate in the majority of situations.
Next, we will look at Devas of the three locations.
With best regards,
Dhruba.
