Vedas-the Divine Revelation

From the Book- The Veda-Myth and Reality( A reply to Vedic Age )

Author – Pt Dharmadev Vidyamartand

Are Vedas the manifestation of Divine revelation?

And is it necessary to believe in Divine revelation at all?

According to the evolution theory, man went on gaining knowledge gradually. Why then to believe in the Divine revelation?

One cannot attain knowledge unless there is someone to impart it. If it were not so, there would have been no need to open schools and colleges. People would have attained the knowledge themselves.

But it is evident that we cannot gain knowledge until and unless we are taught by our teachers, parents or by others.

Some experiments have been carried out from time to time in this connection. Worth mentioning among them are those carried out by King Asurvant of Syria, King James (lIVth) of Scotland, King

Semetical of Greece, King Fredrick IInd of Germany and by Emperor Akbar of India. During these experiments newly born children were kept in forests and brought up by nurses who were ,deaf and dumb. Consequently the children could not learn any language and their behaviour came to resemble that of animals.

There has been one instance of a child born in Gandhi Hospital Lucknow, who brought up by a Wolf, walked, talked and ate like animals.

It is quite logical to believe that as a father instructs his child in the beginning, so also does God. He is our first Benefactor who gave instructions in the form of the Vedas to all human beings at the time of creation to help them achieve physical, mental and spiritual progress. They were told about the ultimate aim of existence and also what was right and wrong.

Even a materialist like Haickel has acknowledges the possibility of Divine revelation when he says :-

“They may or they may not receive such information, but there is no scientific ground for dogmatism on the subject, nor any reason for asserting the inconceivability of such a thing”

Stressing the need for Divine revelation, Dr. Fleming, famous scientist of Europe, said :

“If we are to obtain more solid assurances, it cannot come to the mind of man groping feebly in the dim light of un-assisted reason, but only by a communication made directly from this Supreme to the finite mind of man. (Religion and Science by Seven men of Science.)

Just as it is absolutely necessary to frame laws and regulations to run an institution or a govemment or a factory, it is quite rational that God should give us in the form of Vedas, the enteral laws for our benefit. lt will be considered unjust to punish people for theft, drinking or corruption in a country where there are no laws prohibiting such practices. This is why God gave us the set of laws, which in the words of Vedas, are “Rita and Satya” at the dawn of creation.

Eminent philosophers like Plato and Kant have also spoken of

Divine revelation for guidance in religious and moral matters. Plato, in his book “Phaedo” says,

“We will wait for one, be he a God or an inspired man, to instruct us in religious duties and to dispel dankness.

“We must seize upon best human views in navigating the dangerous sea of life, if there is no safer or less perilous way, no stouter vessel of Divine revelation for making this Voyage”

The following dialogue of Plato-translated into English by Jowett-also emphasise the need for the Divine revelation:-

“A man should persevere until he has achieved one of two things : either he should discover, or be taught the Truth about them or, if this is impossible, I would have him take the best and most

irrefragable of human theories, and let this be the raft upon which he sails through life-though not without risk, as I admit, if he cannot find some word of God which will more surely and safely carry

him through.”

Socrates of Greece also expressed similar sentiments :

“You may resign yourself to sleep, and give yourself up to despair, unless God in His goodness, shall vouchsafe to send you instruction”

Says the German philosopher Kant : “We may well cancede that if the Gospel had not previously taught the universal moral laws in their full purity, reason would not yet have attained so perfect an insight of them.” These lines accept the limitation of a human mind and the need for Divine revelation for the knowledge of the moral laws.

Those who do not recognise the need for the Divine revelation hold the view that being endowed with intelligence, they can discriminate between the right and the wrong, the good and the bad, the religious or the irreligious. Though we do not underscore the role of Conscience in such matters, we must emphasise that it cannot be taken as a final authority in regard to morality which is, to a great extent, determined by environment, social conditions and education and vary from person to person and place to place.

A child who is bom in a family of Aryans, Vaisyas or Jains, by nature, generally begins to hate meat; but a child who is born in a Kshatriya or Kayastha families (where meat is genarally considered normal part of food) is not prompted by his Conscience to abstain from animal food.

Kant has rightly said in his book “Metaphysics of Morals“ :

“Feelings which naturally differ in degree cannot furnish uniform standards of good and evil, nor has anyone a right to form judgment for others by his own feelings.”

Some people reject the need for Divine Revelation at the time of creation on the ground that such revelations have dawned front time to time on the devotees of God. They should, however,

remember that belief in such revelations has led to a great deal of exploitation of human weakness by those who were believed to be the incarnations of God.

Even if some persons were able to rely on Conscience, intelligence or inspiration for what is right or wrong, it is difficult to acquire the knowledge of the Ultimate end, of the true nature of “Jiva”, (soul), “Brahma” (God), Prakriti” (Matter) and the way to achieve emancipation etc.

Materialists hold the view that a man knows about his duties and obligations by merely observing Nature. If this were the case. no race would have been found in barbarious state. The book of Nature is open to everybody. But to read this book and to understand its mysteries, is not everybody’s business.

lf others (not knowing fully what Nature truly reveals to us) begin to follow such aspects of Nature as “Survival of the fittest”, morality and universal brotherhood will be simply wiped out from the world. Therefore it will be a great blunder to consider Nature as the only source of ethical education.

Before directly answering the question why we should regard Vedas as Divine revelation and not the Bible, the Quaran, Zind Avasta, we would like to present before the readers some of the tribute paid to the Vedas by impartial scholars belonging to different faiths.

Farzoon Dadachanji. a Farsi scholar, in his book Philosophy of Zorozstrianism and Comparative Study of Relígions writes:-

“Veda  is Book of Knowledge and Wisdom comprising the Book of Nature, the Book of Religion, the Book of Prayers, the Book of Morals and so on. The word ‘Veda’ means” wit, wisdom. Knowledge; and truly, Veda is condensed Book of Wit, Wisdom and knowledge.”

Akhtab’s son and Turfa’s grandson Lavy, an Arabian poet, who flourished 2, 500 years before Mohammed. wrote n beautiful poem in praise of the Vedas which throws light on the esteem in which

the people of Samatic race, held the Vedas till 1800 B.C.

(The poem is included in Asmai’s Anthology named Malaltus-shara (siral Ukul):

(“Oh, blessed land of Hind (India) Thou art worthy of rever- ence for in Thee has God revealed True knowledge of Himself.)

“What e pure light do these four revealed books afford to our mind’s eyes like the (charming and cool) lustre of the down? These four, God revealed to His prophets (Risis) in Hind.

“And he thus teaches ell races of mankind that inhabit His earth: “Observe (in your lives) the knowledge I have revealed in the vedas for surely God has revealed them.

“Those treasures and the “Sama” and “Yajur” which God has published. O my brothers! Revere these, for they tell us the good news of salvation.

“The two next, of these four, Rig and Atharva teach us lessons of (universal) brotherhood. These two (Vedas) are the beacons that show us the path of universal brotherhood.”)

Aurangzeb”s elder brother, Darashikoh, who was a great scholar, read scriptures of different faiths which were supposed to be Divine revelations. Among the books he studied besides Quran were old

Testament, New Testament and the Book of Psalms. But none of them satisfied him as did the Vedas about which he writes :

“After gradual research, I have come to the conclusion that long before all heavenly books, God had revealed to the Hindus, through the Risis of Yore (of whom Brahma was the Chief) His four books of knowledge, the Rigveda, the Yajurveda, the Samveda, the Atharva Veda.” Darashikoh was confident that these Vedas which enunciated the oneness of God existed in the ancient time and that Upanishads

were based on them. He studied Sanskrit and had acquired so much knowledge that he could understand the true meaning of the Vedic mantras and Upanishads.

He also found reference to the Vedas (being revealed by God) in Quran. In his opinion, some verses in Quran were just the reproduction of the teachings of the Upanishads which have

ultimately been derived from the Vedas.

Though most of the Western Vedic scholars were not impartial as their main motive was to establish the superiority of Chrstianity over Hindu religion, yet there were a few in Europe who sang the glory of the Vedas.

Co-discoveror of the evolution theory in the material world, Dr. Alfred R. Wallace, writes in his famous book “Social Environment and Moral Progress: ” :

“In the earliest records which have come down to us from the past, we find ample indications that accepted standard of morality and the conduct resulting from these were in no degree inferior to

those which prevail today, though in some respects they differed from ours. The wonderful collection of hymns known as the Vedas is a vast system of religious teachings as pure and lofty as those of the finest portions of the Hebrew Scriptures. lts authors were fully our equals in their conception of universe and the Deity expressed in finest poetic language”

“In it we find many of the essential teachings of the most advanced religious thinkers.”

“We must admit that the mind which conceived and expressed in appropriate language such ideas, as are everywhere present in those Vedic hymns, could not have been inferior to those of the best of our religious teachers and poets, to our Milton, Shakespeare and Tennyson.”

What could be a better criticism of social evolution theory than this? Where is the scope for social evolution if the teachings of Vedas, which, in the famous words of Max Muller, are the “oldest books in the library of mankind and” are as lofty and pure as the finest portions of Bible ?

This belief expressed by one of the discoverers to the evolution theory himself will force others, who deny the existence of revealed knowledge on the basis of this theory, to change their mind.

Rev. Morris Philip in his book “The Teachings of the Vedas “ has in the following words, accepted the revealed nature of the Vedas-

“After the latest researches into the history and chronology of books of Old Testament, we may safely now call the Rigveda as the oldest book, not only of the Aryan humanity, but of the whole worlds.

“It is evident then (I) that the higher up towards the source of the Vedic religion we push our enquiries, the purer, simpler do we come to find the conception of God, and that (II) in proportion as we come down the stream of time, the more corrupt and complex we find it. We conclude, therefore, that the Vedic Aryans did not acquire their knowledge of the divine attributes and functions empirically, in that case, we should find at the end what we now find in the beginning. Hence we must seek for a theory which will account alike for the acquisition of that knowledge, the God-like conception of Varuna, and for that gradual depravation in which (it eventually) culminated.”

“We have pushed our enquiries as far back in time as the records would permit, and we have found that the religious and speculative thought of the people was far purer, simpler and more rational at the farthest point we reached, than at the nearest and the latest in the Vedic age.

“The conclusion, therefore, is inevitable viz, that the development of religious thought in India has been uniformly downwards, and not upward, deterioration and not evolution. We are justified, therefore, in concluding that higher and purer conceptions of the Vedic Aryans were the results of a primitive

Divine revelation.”

It can’t be said about Rev. Morris that he had fully understood the principles of the Vedic Dharma. There are many errors in his book which will be pointed out later. But his faith in monotheism in Vedas is very significant.

A well-known scholar, poet and philosopher -James Cousins writes in “Path to Peace”: “To love, to think, to do-are in the Vedic conception, no transitory futurities touched with melancholy, but simulations of the cosmic dancing shadows cast by the Light of lights. But they are cast by the Light, not by Darkness and in that light, that vision of the Eternal, shining through the temporal, humanity can find an ideal which would replace a periodical sanctimoniousness by a perpetual sense of the sanctity of all life.

On that (Vedic) ideal alone, with its inclusiveness, which weans hatred away from itself, it is possible to rear a new earth in the image and likeness of the eternal Heavens.”

Cousins was so impressed by the Indian Scriptures that he changed his name to “Kulapati Jaya Ram” and passed his remaining life with his wife in the pursuit of the Vedic ideals.

Prof. J. Moscaro of the University of Barcelone, has described the Vedas, the Upanishads and the Gita, as the highest summit of the Wisdom :-

“If a Bible of India were compiled, if Sanskrit could find a group of translators with the same feeling for the sacred texts in the original as the Bible has found in England, eternal treasures of old Wisdom and poetry would enrich the times of today.

Among those compositions-some of them living words before writing was introduced -the Vedas, the Upanishads and the Bhagavad-Gita would rise above the rest like the Himalayas of the

spirit of man.”

What Mr. W.D. Brown, an English scholar, has stated about Vedas in his book “Superiority of the Vedic Religion” is worth writing in golden letters :

“lt (Vedic Religion) recognises but One God. lt is a thoroughly scientific religion where religion and science meet hand in hand. Here theology is based upon science and philosophy.” This is how well-known German philosopher Schopenhauer,  expressed in the following words, his sentiments about the

Ishopanishad (which is the 40″‘ chapter of Yajurveda):-

“In the whole world, there is no study so beneficial and elevating as the Upanishad. lt has been the solace of my life. lt will be the solace at my death”

Ragozin in his book “Vedíc India ” also ackowleged the sublime nature of Vedas (though some of his ideas about Yajnas are erroneous). He writes :-

“Vedic hymns greatly confirm us in the impression that the Aryan moral code, as mirrored in the Rigveda, bore on the whole, a singularly pure and elevated character. So nothing can be more

beautiful in feeling and wording than on alms giving or rather on

the duty of giving or helping generally.”

French author Jacolliot, who made a comparative study of

different religions in his book “The Bible in India “, writes :- “Astonishing fact! The Hindu revelation (Veda) is of all revelations the only one whose ideas are in perfect harmony with Modern Science, as it proclaims the slow and gradual formation of the world.”

Jacolliot’s statement that among the revealed books, only the Veda teachings are in harmony with scientific thoughts is very significant. Take for example, what the Bible says about the creation of the world.

God said, let there be light and there was light. (Genesis-3) According to chapter 1^st of Genesis, it took God six days to create the world and according to the next chapter, He took rest on the seventh day :-

“And on the Seventh day, God ended his work which he had made, and he rested on the Seventh day from all his work which he had made.”

Whatever God did afterwards was like an ordinary man with all human weakness which philosophy, testifies as the “Anthropomorphic conception of God.”

It is stated in the third chapter of Genesis :-

“Adam and Eve heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day and they hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden”

Then, God repented after creating this world, according to the sixth chapter of Genesis :-

“And it repented the Lord that He had made man on the earth and it grieved Him at his heart, And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth for it repented

me that I have made him.”

The eleventh chapter of Genesis betrays his jealousies:

“Lord came down to see the city and the tower, and the Lord said, “Behold, the people is one and they have all one language and this they have begun to do and now, nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.

“Go to, let us go down and there confound their language that they may not understand one another’s speech”

“So the Lord scattered them abroad and they left off to build the city.”

And then there are descriptions of God Wrestling with Jacob- taking beef at Abraham” s house….

Scientific and rational scholars can never be satisfied with this anthropomorphic conception of God. C.S. Middleman writes :-

“Such anthropomorphism is childish.”

In reply to the question, “Do you think that science negates the idea of a Personal God? Prof. J .B. Kohn, a well-known scientist, said,” I think it does assume the Personal God to have human attributes”

Replying to the same question, Physicist C.C. Farr, another scientist, said :-

“The idea of a Personal God as taught by Jesus Christ would seem to be very different from the conception of scientific men. I see no realisation of studendous magnificance which must be ascribed to the power behind the universe in Jesus’s teaching and the teaching of the church today.”

One of the main objections of scientists against the Biblical conception of creation is that the existence came out of nothing. But according to the Vedic religion, it took its birth from the matter.

God is only its efficient cause like potter, a blacksmith or a goldsmith. There can be no objection to this conception of creation from the philosophical or scientific point of view.

Another objection against the Biblical conception of creation is regarding the division of day and night before the sun or moon were born.

On the first day, the day and the night were made as evident from the first chapter of Genesis :-

“God saw the light, that it was good and God divided the light from the darkness.

“And called the light day and darkness He called the night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.”

But the sun and moon were created on the fourth day as stated in the 4^th chapter of the Genesis :-

“And God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the- day and the lesser light to rule the night, he made the stars also.”

“And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth.

“And to rule over the day and over the night and to divide the light from the darkness, and God saw that it was good.

“And the evening and the morning were made on the fourth day.”

Moreover there are many things in the Bible which are against intellect, reason and science such as :-

(i) That Christ was born of Virgin Mary.

(ii) That earth is flat and not round.

(m) That Christ turned water into wine.

(iv) That Christ satisfied hunger of 4,000 people from just 4 leaves.

(v) That Christ raised Lazarus from the grave after three days.

Galileo, a scientist from Spain, was brought before Inquistion Court and punished for his statement that the earth is round and that it revolves round the sun.

The following was the verdict of the court :-

“The first proposition that the sun is the center and does not revolve about the earth is foolish, absured, false in theology and heretical because expressly contrary to the Holy Scriptures… And the second proposition that the earth is not the center but revolves about the sun is absurd, false in philosophy and from a theological point of view, at least, opposed to the true faith.”

Many atrocities had been committed on Galileo for stating the scientific truth that the earth is round. He was sentenced to  4 year rigorous imprisonment. He died in jail.

Bruno, another scientist, had been meted out the worst treatment for stating that the earth is round and proving that there are many worlds. On Feb. l6 1600, he was burnt to death. While dying he said smilingly :-

“It is with greater fear that you pass sentence upon me rather than I receive it.” Reader may refer to the well-known book “The History of the Conflict Between Religion and Science” by William Draper for

the injustice done to scientists and philosphers like Hypatia, Nester, Arius etc for expressing minor differences of opinion on the Christian principles. Dr. Barnes, Bishop of Birmingham, in his

broadcast (reproduced on “The Religion and Science”) maintained that where there is a conflict between religion and science, the latter is to prevail :

“Now before I speak of such possibility of conflict, I wish to make it quite clear that many beliefs associated With religious faith in the past must be abandoned. They have had to meet the direct

challenge of Science and I believe, it is true to say, that in every such direct battle since the Renaissance, science has been the victor.

Let me give definite instances :-

(i) First, the earth is not the fixed center of the universe; it is merely the moving satellite of a sun which resembles innumerable other suns.

(ii) Secondly, man was not especially created.

(iii) Thirdly, no priest, by ritual or formula, can attribute spiritual properties to inanimate matter.

(iv) Fourthly, if by miracles, we mean large-scale breaches in the uniformity of nature, such miracles do not occur in human experience. Here are four typical results of scientific investigations which at length all must accept”

Dr. Mazley in the course of his Bampton lectures had said, “If miracles are denied, all Christianity, so far as it has any title to that name, so far as it has any special relation to Christ, is overthrown.”

There is nothing against the laws of Nature of Science in the Vedas. God has been described in the Vedas at several places as ‘Satya Dharma ‘, one whose laws are etemal. These laws are called “ऋत” (Rit) which means true and eternal.

Not only that, Vedic religion and science are in absolute harmony with each other, Vedas are also the origin of all sciences and the religions. “Veda” means knowledge, both material and spiritual, for the benefit of the mankind. The fundamentals of aeronautics, astrology, art, medicine and electricity are present in the Vedas.

DIVINE REVELATION AND ITS MEDIUM

Even while some scholars consider the knowledge contained in the Vedas to be Divinely revealed, they hold the view that the language in which it is expressed is that of Risis. But if we go deep into this matter, we will find it fallacious.

The basic issue is : What was the form in which this Divine knowledge was revealed to the Risis?

What is the proof that the Risis presented that knowledge in its pure form without allowing it to be tampered with their own imagination?

Is it believable at all that the Vedic Language which is so perfect and is the mother of all languages, should be the result of any human effort?

Moreover if we concur with the philologists that thought and language are interdependent, we cannot but reach the conclusion that even the language of the Vedas was Divine.

Herder, a philosogist, for instance, says,

“Without language, it is impossible to concieve philosophical nay, even any human consciousness.”

In the words of Herdcr: “We think in names.”

Says, Sir William Hamilton, “Words are the fortress of thoughts, unless thought be accompanied at each point of its evolution by a corresponding evolution of language, its further development is arrested.”

German scholar Von Humolt has rightly observed:

“If we separate intellect and language, such a seperation does not exist in reality.”

Says another scholar Shleel Maker : “Thinking and speaking are so entirely one that one can only distinguish them as internal and extemal, every thought is already a word.”

In his famous book “The Science 0fLanguage,” Max Muller has expressed the view that this relationship is the basis of all exact philosophy :- “We think in words; so words must become the character of all exact philosophy in future” “We never meet with articulate sounds except as wedded to determinate ideas nor do we ever, I believe, meet with determinate ideas; except as embodied in articulate sounds. I, therefore, declare my conviction as explicitly as possible that thought in the sense of reasoning is not possible.”

This theory is fully supported by our ancient literature. For instance, the following aphorism, in the “Mimansa” bears testimony to this thought-language relationship :

Poet Kalidas also writes in Raghuvansh :-

Maharshi Vyas, in his commentary of the Yogsutras (I. 27),

also fully supports this view in the following words :-

On comparison of languages it will appear that the Vedic language is not only the mother of Indian but also of all foreign languages.

Baron Cuvier, for instance, writes :-

“It (Sanskrit) is the most regular language known and is especially remarkable, as containing the roots of the various languages of Europe like Greek, Latin, German, Slavonic.” Yaska, the author of the Nirukta, has also given multi meanings of several mantras.

This magic, with which the mantras in the Vedas, have been endowed with the spiritual, cosmic and social meaning puzzles even the minds of the greatest scholars and commentators of the Vedas, he says. As per Visvamitra where the names of these Rishis do not fall into a category as in the Atharvaveda, they should be taken as characters or spokesmen in a great epic as in a Panchtantra story, specially coined to convey certain complicated ideas in a simple form. In the Panchtantra, great truths have been revealed through such characters as a lion, a Jackal, monkey etc. Everybody knows that these creatures cannot otherwise speak