Revelation of Vedas
Q. Whose hearts did God reveal the Vedas in?
A.-“In the beginning, God revealed the four Vedas, Rig, Vayu, Sama, and Atharva, to Agni, Vayu, A’ditya and Angira, respectively.” SHAPATHA BRAHMAN 11: 4,2.3.
Q.But it is written in the Shwetashwetar Upanishad, ” In the beginning God created Brahma and revealed the Vedas in his heart.”SHEWTAR UPANISHAD 6:18. Why do you say that they were revealed to Agni, and other sages?
A.- Brahma was instructed in the knowledge of the Veda through the medium of the four sages , such as Agni. Mark what Manu Says: “In the beginning after human being had been created, the Supreme Spirit made the Vedas known to Brahma through Agni, etc., i.e., Brahma learnt the four Vedas from Agni, Vayu, A’ditya and Angira.” MANU: 23
Q. Why should He have revealed the Vedas to those four men alone and not to others as well? That imputes favouritism to God.
A.- Among all men those four alone were purest in heart, therefore, God revealed the true knowledge to them only.
Q. Why did He reveal the Veda in Sanskrit instead of a language of some particular country?
A.~ Had He revealed the Veda in the language of some particular country, He would have been partial to that country, because it would have been easier for the people of that country to learn and teach the Veda than for the foreigners, therefore, it is that He did it in Sanskrit that belongs to no country, and is the mother of all other languages. Just as He has ordained the material creation such as the earth, etc., which is also the source of all the useful arts, for the equal good of all, so should the language of the Divine revelation be accessible to all countries and nations with the same amount of labour. Hence the revelation of the Veda in Sanskrit does not make God partial to any nation
Evidence that proves the the Vedas to be Divine revelation.
Q. What evidence have you to prove that the Veda in Sanskrit is of Divine origin and not the work of man?
A- The book in which God is described as He is, viz., Holy, Omniscient, Pure in nature, character and attributes, Just, Merciful, etc., and in which nothing is said that is opposed to the laws of nature reason, the evidence of direct cognizance, etc., the teachings of the highly learned altruistic teachers of humanity (A’ptas), and the intuition of pure souls, and in which the laws, nature, and properties of matter and the soul are propounded as they are to be inferred from the order of nature as fixed by God, is the book of Divine revelation. Now the Vedas alone fulfil all the above conditions, hence they are the revealed books and not books, like the Bible and the Q’uran which we shall discuss fully in the thirteenth and fourteenth chapters (of this book) respectively.
Q.There is no necessity for the Veda to be revealed by God. Men can by themselves by degrees augment their knowledge and thereafter make books as well.
A.- No, they cannot do that, because there can be no effect without a cause. Look at savages such as the Bhils. Do they ever become enlightened by themselves without being instructed by others? The same is true of men in civilized communities, they need to be taught before they become educated. Similarly, had not God instructed the primitive sages in the knowledge of the Veda and had not they in their turn taught other men, all men would have remained ignorant. If a child were kept in a sequestered place from its very birth with no other company but that of illiterate persons or animals, on attaining maturity he would be no better than one of his company.
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Take for example the case of Egypt, Greece, or the Continent of Europe. The people of all these countries were without a trace of learning before the spread of knowledge from India. In the same way before Columbus and other Europeans went to America, the natives had been without any learning for hundreds and thousands of years. Now some of them have become enlightened after receiving education from the Europeans. Similarly, in the beginning of the world men received knowledge from God and since then there have been various learned men in different periods, Says Patanjali in his Yoga Shastra.
“As in the present time we become enlightened only after being taught by our teachers, sowerein the beginning of the world, Agni and the other three Rishis (sages), taught by the greatest of all teachers – God.” YOGA SHASTRA SAMADHI, 26. His knowledge is eternal. He is quite unlike the human soul that becomes devoid of consciousness in profound sleep and during the period of dissolution. It is certain, therefore, that no effect can be produced without a cause.
Q- The Vedas were revealed in the Sanskrit language. Those Rishis were ignorant of that language. How did they then understand the Vedas?
A.- They were made known to them by God, and whenever great Sages, who were yogis, imbued with piety, and with the desire to understand the meanings of certain mantras and whose minds possessed the power of perfect concentration, entered the superior condition, called Samaadhi, in contemplation of Deity. He made known unto them the meanings of the desired mantras. When the Vedas were thus revealed to many Rishis, they made expositions with historical illustrations of the Vedic mantras and embodied them in books called the Brahmanas which literally means an exposition of the Veda.
“The names of the Rishis, who were seers of certain mantras and for the first time published and taught the exposition of those mantras, are written along with those mantras as token remembrance.” Nirukta 1-20. Those who look upon those Rishis as the authors of the mantras should be considered absolutely in the wrong. They were simply seers of those mantras.
Q. Which books are called the Vedas?
A.- The book called the Rig Veda, the Yajur Veda, the Sama Veda and the Atharva Veda – the Mantras Sanhitas only and no other.
Q. But the sage Katyayana says. The mantras Sanhitas together with the Brahmanas constitute the Vedas.
A.- You must have noticed that in the beginning of every Mantra Sanhita and at the end of each of its chapters it has always been the practice from time immemorial to write the word Veda, but it is never done so in the case of Brahmanas. We read in the Nirukt, “This is in the Veda, this is in the Brahmanas;” NIRUKT 5: 3 & 4 – in the same way we read in Panini, ” In the Chhanda (Veda) and Brahmanas, etc.” ASHTADHYAYI 4: 2, 66. It is clear from these quotations that the Veda is the name of books distinct from the Brahmanas. The Veda is what is called the Mantra Sanhita or a recollection of mantras, whilst the Brahmanas are the expositions of those mantras. Those who want to know more about this subject can consult our book called ” An introduction to the Exposition of the Vedas”, wherein it is proved on the authority of various kinds of evidence that the above quotation quoted as Katyayan”s could never be his. Because if we believe that, the Veda, could never be eternal, for in the Brahmanas there are to be found biographies of various Rishis and Sages, kings and princes; but since biographies of persons can only be written after their birth, the Brahmanas that contain those biographies must have been written after the birth of those Rishis and kings, etc., and therefore, cannot be eternal. The Veda does not contain the biography of any person, on the other hand in it only those words are used by which knowledge is made known. There is no mention of any proper names fo any particular event or individual in the Veda.
Q- How many Shaakhaas (branches) are there of the Veda?
A.- Eleven hundred and twenty-seven.
Q.What are Shaakhaas (branches)? A.- The expositions are called shaakhaas.
Q.We, hear of learned people speaking of the different parts of the Veda as shaakhaas. Are they wrong?
A.- If you think over it a little, you will understand that they are in the wrong, because all the Shaakhaas are attributed to Rishis such as Ashwalaayani and others, whilst the authorship of the Veda is ascribed to God. It other words, as the author of the four Vedas is believed to be God, so are Rishis held to be the authors of the shaakhaas, such as Ashwalaayani. And besides, all the shaakhaas take Veda texts and expound them, while in the Veda texts only are given. Therefore, the four Vedas – the books of Divine revelation – are like the trunk of a tree, whose branches (shaakhaas) are the books, such as Ashwalaayani, written by Rishis and not revealed by God,
As the parents are kind to their children and wish for their children and wish for their welfare, so has the Supreme Spirit, out of kindness to all men, revealed the Veda by whose study men are freed from ignorance and error, and may attain the light of true knowledge and thereby enjoy extreme happiness as well as advance knowledge and promote their welfare.
Q. Are the Vedas eternal or non-eternal?
A.- They are eternal. God being eternal, His knowledge and attributes must necessarily be eternal, because the nature, attributes and character of an eternal substance are also eternal and vice versa.
Q ~ Oh, I see. God must have given knowledge to those Rishis who afterwards composed the Vedas. Is that what you mean?
A.- There can be no ideas without words. No one but an All-knowing Being has the power to make such compositions as are full of all kinds of knowledge and require the perfect knowledge of music and poetry, meters, such chhandhaas and notes, etc. True, after having studied the Vedas, the Rishis, in order to elucidate the various branches of learning, made books on Grammar, Philology, Music and Poetry, etc. Had not God revealed the Vedas, no man would have been able to write anything. The Vedas, therefore, are revealed books. All men should conduct themselves according to their teachings, and when questioned as to his religion let everyone answer that his religion is Vedic, i.e., he believes in whatever is said in the Vedas.