If you read some of the mantras in the Veda, it appears as if the Devas or the Vedic aliens used to visit the Vedic Indians as and when they were invited. The descriptions are so vivid and honest and the dialogues are so intimate that it is difficult to believe that it was just a matter of superstition or fakery.
Some people feel that it was a grand scheme of the Vedic Indians to fool rich Kings and extract money from them. May be there were such people elsewhere. But in the context of the Vedic people it does not make much sense.
Firstly, the complete detail of the ritual was no secret hidden from the Kings. A King was perfectly qualified to perform the fire rituals himself and he was not at the mercy of any priest. So, his getting fooled does not arise since he is also privy to the entire process. As per the tradition, all three classes of people namely the Brahmin, Kshatriya, and the Vaishya were qualified to perform any Vedic ritual. Only the Shudras were left out. Trying to extract anything from a poor Shudra does not make any sense.
Secondly, Vedic religion strictly forbids any priest from amassing wealth for himself. A frugal life is what is recommended for a priest. As per the ancient religious law, a priest is supposed to earn just enough for the day. In such a case, why will he fool someone and extract money? Moreover, a priest is not supposed to be deceitful and if he violates that rule, he would lose his qualifications to perform any religious ritual.
Well, one can always argue that people never follow rules. Personally, I feel that the moral standards were not as degraded in those days as they are today, though there could be exceptions 😉
Does it then mean that the aliens did really visit the Vedic Indians?
There are different ways to look at this question.
There are the usual “Aryan invasion theory” supporters, who believe that it was all part of ancient superstition. They even go to the extent of saying that Vedic people were innocent and gullible.
In a recent video that I watched about a Vedic ritual, filmed by some western scholars, this way of thinking was quite evident. The filming was done a few decades ago by some of the well-known American university professors. It was about the Vedic rituals still conducted in a very traditional way, in remote south Indian villages.
Bias of these professors was very evident when they started the film with the opening remark about how the nomadic Aryans migrated to India 3000 years ago. They went on to say that these Vedas were composed by these nomadic people who had no technology other than earthen pots and wooden implements. The entire filming was done as if it was about some tribal ritual conducted in remote African jungles.
But if one looks at the advanced knowledge these Vedic Indians had about linguistics, mathematics, metallurgy, astronomy, and their high level of thinking, it does not appear very convincing that they were some nomadic and primitive, superstitious people. Most archeologists agree that there is no evidence of any mass migration of people from central Asia or from some other place to India.
The film also conjectures that the elaborate and complex brick structures erected during the rituals were something these nomads learnt from Indus valley people who preceded them. To my knowledge, there is no support for this Aryan invasion or migration theory other than some similarities between the Vedic language and the languages spoken in Europe – the so-called Indo-European languages. So, I don’t buy these arguments.
On the other hand, there are proud Indians who really believe that the Vedic Indians were indeed in touch with these aliens or Devas and these Devas visit even today when invited through Vedic rituals. I remember some study done by one such Indian a few decades ago.
This proud Indian was a professor in one of the leading American Universities for decades, before he returned to India for good. Apparently, he did some study on the alien visits to Vedic fire rituals. He organized some Vedic fire rituals by well-known Vedic experts. The entire ritual was filmed. It was claimed that one could clearly see some human like forms in the middle of bright flares that erupted from the fire altar! I don’t have first hand information about whether this professor endorsed that claim!
Then there are other reformists and modern Hindu revivalists, who give an altogether different interpretation to the Vedic rituals. According to these people, these rituals are not really physical acts but symbolic processes that are meant to psychologically transform an individual. So, there was no alien, no visits by them, but it was only a mental process to uplift a person.
That is an excellent idea, but can they explain everything in the Vedas in that light? It is easy to cherry pick some verses and interpret them in a different way. But can you reinterpret the massive text of the Vedas and auxiliary texts to give a unique and coherent symbolic meaning? You can’t stretch symbolism that far 😉
In the absence of any concrete evidence to the contrary, I feel it is injustice to those great Vedic people, who sincerely believed in what they said. Are we not questioning their judgment, intellect and integrity? At least, I cannot do that unless I have strong evidence. Till such time, I would leave the question open and consider it as one of the unsolved mysteries rather than make some dumb assumptions 😉
In the next episode, let us look at some more reasons why we should think twice before we brush aside these Vedic Indians as primitive people.
A series discussing the most ancient of the Indian scriptures, nay the world scriptures namely the Vedas. © Dr. King, Swami Satyapriya 2021
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