A Bird's eye vie on Vedas - IX

Know Vedas
(Copy right protected by Dr. G.S. Tripathy)

This method is frequently used in the Vedas as it is not casual. This is the metaphysical foundation of Vedic theism. It is said in the “Creation Hymn” “that the one breathed, airless by self-impulse” in which the term (EKAM) one is in the neuter. In the first and tenth cycles of the Rig-veda this idea does not occur.

To a doctrine not of oneness of the type of being Called God we have come across. This god lives in a particular place but of one Divine Being which pervedes all being understood metaphysically. It is clearly indicated in the Vedas that this metaphysical description in the neuter singular and poetical, do not contradict each other in masculine & feminine both in duel & plural.

Therefore this Vedic there is not simple henotheism. It is subtle and abstruse to a greater extent. It is something for more sophisticated than any primitive idea. It has touched modern civilized notion also.

For example, TaT (that) implies this Divine Being in a verse in Yajur Veda- it is said

“Agni is that, VAYU is that, Chandrama is that,
Aditya is that, Light is that, Brahman is that
Apha (waters) are those- Prajapati is He”

To masculine deities like Agni, Aditya and so on not only is “That” Predicated but to Apah- the deity is plural. Hence “That” is made synonymous with “those” and “He”. It is indicated clearly that “THAT”, “THOSE” and “He” are there the same of course to put it in a different way.

One of the unpunished tries to clarify the meaning by reading “Apah” (waters) are THAT, Prajapati is THAT (Sveta. up VIII.27).

In accordance with a Yagur Veda verse (32.8) the Divinity is spoken of in the neuter as TAT SAT means That Being in the very first line. And in the second line Lord (vibhu) is the masculine. The Advaitic theism of the Vedas is here only we find. That Advaitic theism of the Vedas is here only we find. That there is only one individual in the species of God, does not mean the unity of God, but that the Divine is supreme and all Pervading. All reality becomes unified in HIM in whom all find one nest only.

Vedic henotheism has been developed by simple monotheism. One god is understood By monotheism. In other words all are ruled by one god. The conception of the Vedic Advait- “One in many” and “many in one” lies beyond human imagination.

By the application of logic, the philosopher may think to reduce the proposition to simple monism. That many is unreal and the one is real only. Beyond the logic of monism, the Vedic Advaita lies. On a mystical expression it takes its stand in which the one is real and the many too are real also. And in the one the many find their unity.

Philosophers can alone Penetrate into the conception of the one in the many who accept mysticism as follows: - Rigved (1.82.10)

“Aditi is the Sky, Aditi the mid – region
Aditi the mother, the father and the son
Aditi all deities, the five classed men
Aditi is all that is born, all that will be born.”

Beyond the time and space, the above conception goes with the following logical sense of quantity which is superseded.

“And both the seas are varun’s loins
And He lies in this small drop of water”(Atharva Veda, 1V 163)

It is poetically conceived that all- Pervasiveness of the one exists not only in the cosmic world but also on the earth where men live in. The neuter term for Divinity is addressed to Brahman as follows.

“Thou art man, Thou art woman, Thou art boy
Thou art maiden
Thou art the old man, tottering with the staff
Thou existest on the sides.” Artharva Veda (X. 8.27)

To any of the least extent, the Veda has not ignored the vision of the individual Pertaining to Divine. It may be whether in the singular or the duel or the plural, whether masculine, or the feminine or the neuter. The poetry of particular experiences has been maintained by Veda only take for example:-

One existence is Agni – (EKAM) – But in the masculine he is contemplated. Like that USHAS – though one – (EKAM) - is contemplated in the feminine.

The poet and mysticism is the theism of the intellectual interpretation of a deep experience.