The forgotten beauty of the Vedas

The forgotten beauty of the Vedas

Agni as the sacrificial fire.

Hinduism is a very complex religion, with many sects, many different customs and traditions, and definitely a wide array of different options when it comes to worship. Multiple deities dominate Hinduism, each having his or her own section of followers, devotees who devoutly worship them. The origins of Hinduism continue to be shrouded in mystery, and it is indeed very difficult to accept either theory regarding it. One theory, popularized by the Europeans, especially the British scholars during the colonial era, links Hinduism's ancient form, the Vedic Indo-Aryan religion, to other religions arising from the Proto-Indo-European system of beliefs and rituals. This is definitely a strong claim, backed by many pieces of evidence, and similarity in terms of language and systems of worship further lead us to logically accept this theory at times.

For example, Agni is the first god mentioned in the Rigveda. While the Arya Samajis would disagree that Agni, Soma, Pushan, Bhaga, Surya, Savitr and others are different deities, and they too produce a series of strong pieces of evidence backing their claim, it is however clear that Agni, for example, has many similarities with other fire-gods and goddesses of other Indo-European pantheons. One common example is the similarity between the flame of Hestia (Greek)/Vesta (Roman) and Agni. It is said that Vesta or Hestia is the goddess of the hearth-fire, the protector of the household, kin and civilization as a whole. The flame of Vesta was tended by the Vestal virgins in Rome, in the house of the Vestals. A similar system is common as we turn our eyes to the worship of Lord Agni. Agni is called the 'Yatavedas', the one who was born with the knowledge of the Vedas (although other interpretations are also there), Vaishvanara and Pavaka. As the protector of the Aryan civilization, Agni is called upon for strength, wealth and wisdom. Again and again the ancient Rishis prayed to Agni, for he alone was the minister of sacrifice, the sacred priest of the gods, and the messenger and carrier of the libations offered to the deities. 

The Sun, worshipped in many forms and under
different names such as Surya, Pushan and Mitra
in the Rigveda. 

In later Vedantic traditions, we find some really beautiful analogies, one of them comparing Agni to the mouth of the Vaishvanara Atman (the cosmic spirit, Brahman). That's why, the Vedantas give the explanation, that food is put into the searing flames of Agni, to offer the first portion of it, as a homage, to the Almighty. 

However, not going into the debate whether or not the Arya Samajis are correctly interpreting the Vedas with their 'Bhabarth' of different hymns, one should definitely consider the beautiful language of the Vedas for a while. Basically, it is truly far-fetched to say that all knowledge is contained in the Vedas. There's a story about this. Once, Meghnad Saha, the world-famous Indian physicist, was told by a few villagers "Whatever you've done is fruitless, because all that you have done, will do or even won't be able to do are contained in the Vedas". They were definitely ignorant folks, who didn't even understand what the Vedas actually were. So Saha immediately replied "Really? Ok, show me where this equation is, within the Vedas", and they backed away. By 'this equation', he actually referred to a certain equation, I'm not sure which one though. But the meaning is pretty clear, one should not intermingle religion and science. 

A similar debate arose last year, during one of those 'Big Fight' debate sessions broadcasted live on NDTV. The dabate was primarily regarding the 'god particle', and whether or not science can totally replace religion. As usual, none of the debators actually agreed. One of the scientists, Professor Rajraman, made a beautiful comment. He said "When three quarks were found someday, about 20 years ago, the number 3 was found in the Vedas in 20 places! People said "Look! It said three, it said three!". If seven particles were discovered, then seven". This is the problem with the people of India. We just build a mountain upon a molehill at times. 

The pesudo-scientific approach to relate the Vedas to modern science is not only against the established model of scientific advancement, it's also a way of insulting the Vedas themselves, as Professor Rajraman clearly put it. This is especially important to understand. Religions make a vast multitude of different mysterious claims, and when even one of them remotely matches the findings of modern science, people start screaming "Religion said it before!". This is just insulting the Vedas, and pretty much any religion. 

The Lightning-fire, regarded as the divinity
Trita Apatya in the Rigveda, was one of the minor
deities worshipped in the Rigvedic era

The Vedas have a different set of aims. They are beautiful, poetically and linguistically so. The beauty of the Vedas can be found in the form of the various ways forces and phenomena of nature are being personified in the Vedas. For example, Ushas, the goddess of dawn, is said to have just bathed, and she is described to be riding her chariot across the twin horizons. The animals of the long night, compared to the demons and evil spirits, are considered to be driven away with the emergence of Agni. All these are poetic expressions of reality, of what actually happens in nature. The incredible importance of fire in our daily lives, not only for warmth and light, but also as a source of energy, was thus poetically transformed into the 'glory' of Vaishvanara. 

True courage is to accept reality as it is. We can go on making such baseless claims of modern science being already 'contained' within the immensity of the Vedas, and indeed, we can interpret each verse in a seemingly infinite number of ways,  but that not only makes us appear unscientific, it also ruins the very essence and beauty of the Vedas. 

Take the example of the Rigveda 10:146:1-12, the poetic hymn sung to glorify and personify the forests, in the form of the beautiful and calm goddess Aranyani. The hymn to her, as per Griffith's translation, goes on like: 

1. GODDESS of wild and forest who seemest to vanish from the sight.
How is it that thou seekest not the village? Art thou not afraid?
2 What time the grasshopper replies and swells the shrill cicala's voice,
Seeming to sound with tinkling bells, the Lady of the Wood exults.
3 And, yonder, cattle seem to graze, what seems a dwelling-place appears:
Or else at eve the Lady of the Forest seems to free the wains.
4 Here one is calling to his cow, another there hath felled a tree:
At eve the dweller in the wood fancies that somebody hath screamed.
5 The Goddess never slays, unless some murderous enemy approach.
Man eats of savoury fruit and then takes, even as he wills, his rest.
6 Now have I praised the Forest Queen, sweet-scented, redolent of balm,
The Mother of all sylvan things, who tills not but hath stores of food.

Now, when I previously mentioned the same translation and the immaculate poetic beauty it contains, one of the more orthodox Arya Samajis immediately accused me of not having understood the 'bhabarth' of the hymn. According to him, there's only a specific meaning that can be assigned to each such verse, and that is what has been supported by the mainstream Arya Samajis. This is, at least, a totally baseless and ridiculous claim. I admire the way the Arya Samaj has tirelessly contributed to the up-bringing of the Indian society, but claiming their interpretation to be the supreme truth is just illogical. What makes us different from the fanatics of a certain section of Abrahamic religions, who declare their own 'god' to be the absolute reality? 

The beauty of the Vedas, and by extension the Vedic religion, lies in the fact that it is rich in freedom. And 'from freedom, comes elegance'. Thus, elegant poetry can be found almost everywhere in the Vedas. There's no universally right or wrong interpretation of the Vedas, because Vedic essence isn't science, it is literature and poetry. 

The concept of 'three great lights' in the Rigveda
can be related to the terrestrial light Agni, the
atmospheric light, Vayu/Indra and the light of
high skies (or heaven'), Surya. 

A similar problem arises when people are challenged about the Mahabharatas. Staunch Christians take the Bible literally, which is laughingly absurd. The Bible, like most other religious books and scriptures, definitely contains many beautiful wordings, morals and doctrines, but at the same time it has its own fair share of illogical evil traditions. For example, the Old Testament gloriously describes how the 'children of Israel' slaughtered a man just because the poor fellow was collecting firewood on the day of Sabbath. Is this what we're supposed to believe by heart? No. 

Every system has its own pros and cons, and religious scriptures are no exception to this fundamental rule. Rather than believing things literally, we should try to logically assess them, because we're gifted with this beautiful mental faculty that gives us the power to separate logical facts from illogical ones. 

Thus, it is our duty to revere the Vedas, and other scriptures that form the core and foundation of our ancient religion. But at the same time, it is also important to understand their true worth. On one hand we should not literally believe them, but on the other hand it's also ridiculous to think that the ancient sages 'saw' everything. Because, apparently at least, there's most possibly no god or goddess watching over us.