No matter what modern historians would say, when one studies Samhita parts of the Rigveda one gets tempted to believe that ancient Indians were indeed in touch with divine Aliens or the Devas from other worlds.
The dialogues with the Devas are so intimate. The descriptions of the Devas, their vehicles, as well as the way they arrive at the sacrificial place, all look so real. One refuses to believe that they were all part of superstition or the beliefs of primitive men.
But when it comes to the ritual parts as discussed in the Brahmanas, you suddenly seem to have entered a mysterious world. They are full of mysterious actions leading to mysterious results. Even the explanations sprinkled all over to explain these actions, look more mysterious and at times absurd. But what is amazing is that the system survived for thousands of years and is meticulously preserved even to this day!
But time does not spare anyone. As early as millennium before Christ, people started questioning the efficacy of the Vedic rituals and the rationale behind many of the mystic actions. Sages after sages wrote justifications explaining the ‘theory’ behind the Vedic rituals. One such great composition that survives even to this day is by Jaimini. It is called The Mimamsa Sutra believed to have been composed 1000 years before Christ.
In this composition Jaimini argues that Vedas are eternal and not compositions of humans. So, whatever is ordained in them is not only true but have to be obeyed by any religiously conscious person. He defines ‘Dharma’ as ‘doing as dictated by the Vedas’. As to the proof of whatever is claimed in the Vedas, Jaimini asserts that the question of proving or otherwise does not apply to the Vedas.
In quite a scholarly way, Jaimini explains how human beings acquire knowledge, and how all those ways of acquisition are applicable only to material things. Since the Vedas deal with non-material results, none of these means can be used to evaluate the Vedas. So, Vedas are proof by themselves, according to Jaimini.
Jaimini goes to the extent of saying that the results that are obtained by performing the Vedic rituals owe to specific actions done in specific ways, accompanied by specific Chants. He says that these chants or Mantras are eternal and have magical powers. When you perform a specific ritual in the prescribed way, you are guaranteed to attain the promised results. Even the existence or otherwise of God is immaterial in producing the results of the Vedic rituals.
Jaimini was followed by very many sages who also came up with impressive scholarly compositions trying to justify Vedic practices. But advent of newer ways of thinking as advocated by Buddha and others, gradually diminished the importance given to Vedic rituals. Further, practices like animal sacrifice were condemned by these newer schools of thought who advocated nonviolence and gave impetus to spiritual upliftment rather than acquiring material riches and heavenly abodes. It appeared as if the Vedic school is losing the ground.
Vedic revivalists such as Sankara deemphasized on ritual aspects of the Vedas and laid more emphasis on its philosophical parts. Given to the popularity of these Vedic rituals, Sankara could not have abruptly abandoned them. He chose a rather non-coercive way. Instead of animal sacrifices, he suggested sacrificing make believe effigies of the sacrificial animals.
Even the Tantriks who probably ruled the scene much before the Vedas themselves, gradually reformed their practices to suite the new way of thinking. They replaced their age-old tantric practices with newer set of rituals. In the place of Samhitas of Vedas, newer Samhitas were composed, emphasizing on God centric worship.
Today, Vedic rituals have almost become a thing of the past. Except in some remote places in southern India, Vedic rituals are rarely performed. In most cases they are replaced by more acceptable, devotionally oriented practices, be it in temple worships or in simplified form of fire rituals. Vedic Devas are replaced by Puranic Gods. Devotion took the place of mysticism. Vegetarianism became more popular at least as a concept.
Having said all this, we should not forget that the Vedas do have a substantial part that is philosophically oriented. They are the Upanishads. Upanishads deemphasized going after worldly pleasures and stressed on the importance of rising above mere animal like existence. They encouraged one to look beyond mundane existence. That does not mean that they are against worldly achievements. They just pointed to something much beyond that and more fulfilling and longer lasting.
In that respect, Upanishads are unique as compared to most other religious scriptures. They go one step beyond ritualism and devotion to personified Gods. They emphasized on intellectually oriented approach. They seem to answer many fundamental questions concerning human existence. They have a potential to unify all beings, not just the humans. That is what makes them survive even to this day, even after thousands of years, withstanding the onslaughts of several newer ideologies that appeared on the Indian scene.
In the subsequent discussions, I plan to focus more on Upanishad part of the Vedas. I have written a couple of books on this subject, but the subject is so fascinating that I thought it is worth spending some time on them.
But let me take a short break since most of you would be busy with your holidays, Christmas, New year celebration, and what not. I will restart once again in the coming new year with more insights into the philosophical aspects of the Vedas. So, please do join me for an interesting discussion where I will try to see the Upanishadic concepts from newer angles. Happy holidays.
Start Previous Next
A series discussing the most ancient of the Indian scriptures, nay the world scriptures namely the Vedas. © Dr. King, Swami Satyapriya 2021
No comments:
Post a Comment