The Origin of Vedas

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advaitin, "narayana_kl_71"

<narayana_kl_71 wrote:

>

> Namaste,

>

> > Brihadaranyakopanishad II – 4 – 10 says …*asya mahato bhUtasya

> > nishvasitametat …* This was the exhaled breath of the Great

Lord.

> > The Vedas are the breath of the Lord. They are as old as He. He

did

> > not create them. There was no time when the Lord did not exist.

So

> > also of the Vedas.

>

>

> The upanishad also applies this to purANa, itihAsa, sUtras, vidya,

> anuvyakhyanas, vyakhyanas etc. It calls these things as the breath

of

> brahman too. However nobody considers the purANa and others as

> unauthored. They are not even considered eternal AFAIK. Therefore I

> dont think that the upanishad supports veda-apaurusheyatva here.

 

Namaste,

 

The Purana, etc. are to be understood as contained in the Vedas

themselves. In this context, it is beneficial to see the Acharya's

commentary to the above mantra: He clarifies:

(1)the word 'itihasa'consists of 'iti'= thus, 'hA' = said, 'Asa' =

existed. It relates to statements in the Vedas themselves like for

example, ''urvashI ha apsarA' which occur in the BraahmaNa portion

where the dialogue between urvashI and purUravas is reported. (it is

something like a story-telling in the vedas itself.)

(2)'purana'is statements like 'asad vA idam agra AsIt', etc.

occuring in the Shruti itself.

(3) 'vidyA' refers to the statements in the Veda itself

like: 'devajana vidyA veda: so'yam' etc. (perhaps this sentence

means: this person knew the upasana (vidya) pertaining to the devas

and manushyas)

(4) 'upanishad' means sentences occuring in the Veda itself

like: 'priyam ityetad upAsiita'.

(5) 'shloka' means mantras occuring in the BrAhmaNa bhaaga are

known as shlokas.

(6) 'Sutra' are the concise expressions of concepts in the Veda

itself like for example, 'AtmetyevopAsIta'. (An aside point: IN the

Taittiriya Upanishad the sentence 'BrahmavidApnOti param' is called

a sutra by the Acharya in that commentary. For, the rest of the

upanishad that follows this concise utterance is an explanation by

the Upanishad itself for this sutra=formula form of utterance.)

(7) 'anuvyAkhyaanam' refers to the expositions of mantras found in

the veda itself.

(8) 'vyAkhAnam' refers to arthavAda, that is eulogy found in the

veda itself. Or they could mean the elaborate explanations to the

sutras found in the vedas. He also gives an example for this: For

the 'AtmetyevopAsIta'-sutra, the 'yo anyo'sau anyo'hamiti na sa veda

yathaa pashurevam' contained in that adhyaaya of the upanishad

itself.

(This much is given by the Acharya in his commentary).

 

 

> > In Gita XV – 15 the Lord says "vedAntakRt-vedavid-eva cAhaM"

meaning

> > I am indeed the author of Vedanta and I am the knower of the

> > Vedas. Note that he does not say, "I am the author of the

Vedas"

> > which would have been the translation if he had said *veda-kRt*.

He

> > only says *vedAnta-kRt*.

>

>

> vedAnta also includes jnAna-kANDa of the vedas. More specifically,

> most portions of the upanishads come under vedAnta. Does the above

> statement of Krishna mean that Ishwara is the author of some

portion

> of shruti?

>

> It is also interesting to note that nyAya-vaiSeshika considers

Ishwara

> to be the author of the vedas.

>

 

A clarification is required on the above: There is no distinction in

the 'origin' status between the veda and vedanta as far as they are

both part of the whole called Sruti. For this particular Gita

verse, the Acharya's commentary is very revealing:

 

'vedAntakRit = vedAntArtha-sampradAyakRit ityarthaH. This means: It

is I who cause the Teaching of the VedAnta to be handed down in

regular succession.

 

This is quite appropriate. In the Gita IV chapter beginning the Lord

says: I taught this yoga to VivasvAn, VivasvAn taught it to Manu....

 

Again, in His introduction to Gita bhashya, the Acharya says: The

Lord created the Universe, and wishing to secure order therein He

first created the Prajapatis such as Marichi and caused them to

adopt the Pravritti dharma, the Religion of Works. He then created

others such as Sanaka, and Sanandana and caused them to adopt the

Nivritti Dharma, the Religion of Renunciation, characterised by

knowledge and indifference to worldly objects.

 

Again, in the Advaita Guruparamparaa, the invocation of the Gurus

starts like this: NArAyaNam, Padmabhuvam, Vasishtham....Thus, Lord

Narayana is the First Guru who taught the KNowledge.

 

The Purushasukta says: From the Viraat Purusha emanated the Yajus,

etc. We have in the mantra: Yo BrahmAnam vidhAti pUrvam, yo vai

VedAnscha prahiNoti tasmai' where BrahmA was caused to know the

Vedas by the Lord. In the Vedic system, even Isvara has no

authority to change even a syllable in the Shruti. In each

creation, what had become unmanifest during the earlier pralaya,

that alone comes up intact. There is no authorship of the Vedas.

It is apaurusheya in this sense.

 

Warm regards,

subbu

 

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