Vivekananda on the Vedas (part 32)

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Parts 1 to 31 were posted earlier. This is part 32. Your comments are welcome... Vivekananda Centre London

Earlier postings can be seen at http://www.vivekananda.btinternet.co.uk/veda.htm

 

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA ON THE VEDAS AND UPANISHADS

By Sister Gayatriprana

part 32

PART I, SECTION 2: VEDIC CULTURE

 

Chapter 6: The Work Portion of the Vedas

a) The Evolution of Thought on the Meaning of Ritual

1. The Two Parts of the Vedas: External Ceremonial and Spiritual Knowledge

The two great divisions of the Vedas are the Karma Kanda - the portion pertaining to doing or work, and Jnana Kanda - the portion treating of knowing, true knowledge. (1)

The Vedas are divided into two portions: one, the Upanishads, the philosophical portion, the other the work portion. (2)

The work portion contains ceremonials, rules as to eating, living, doing charitable work, etc. The knowledge came afterwards and was enunciated by kings. (3)

One part of the Vedas deals with karma - form and ceremonies. The other part deals with the knowledge of Brahman and discusses religion. (4)

 

2. The Idea of Sacrifice in India

The idea of sacrifice in India was not with the first portion of the Vedas [mythology]. But in the next portion we find the same idea in India too, in the Brahmanas. The idea of sacrifice was originally simply giving food [to the gods], but gradually it was raised and raised until it became a sacrifice to God. Philosophy came in to mystify it still more and to spin webs of logic round it. Bloody sacrifices came into vogue. Somewhere we read that three hundred bullocks have been roasted, or that the gods are smelling the sacrifices and becoming very glad. Then all sorts of mystical notions got about - how sacrifice was to be made in the form of a triangle or square, a triangle within a square, a pentagon, and all sorts of figures. But the great benefit was the evolution of geometry. When they had to make all these figures - and it was laid down strictly how many bricks should be used, and how they should be laid, and how big they should be - naturally, geometry came into being. The Egyptians evolved geometry [by] their [irrigation] - [they] made canals to take the Nile water inside their fields - and the Hindus, by their altars. (5)

 

3. Ceremonies Are Optional and Subject to Change

The ceremonies and fruits of the Karma Kanda are confined within the limits of the world of maya, and therefore they have been undergoing and will undergo transformation according to the law of change which operates through time, space and personality. (6)

The Karma Kanda includes various sacrifices and ceremonials, of which the larger part has fallen into disuse in the present age. (7)

The work portion consists of various sacrifices; most of them of late have been given up as not practicable under present circumstance, but others remain to the present day in some shape or other. (8)

The perfect religion is the Vedic religion. The Vedas have two parts, mandatory and optional. The mandatory injunctions are eternally binding upon us [and] constitute the Hindu religion. The optional ones are not so. They have been changing and been changed by rishis to suit the times. The brahmins at one time ate beef and marred shudras. A calf was killed to please the guest. shudras cooked for brahmins. The food cooked by a male brahmin was regarded as polluted food. But we have changed our habits to suit the present yuga. (9)

 

 

 

b) The Ceremonial Vedic Religion was Exclusively in the Hands of the Priests, the First Messengers from the Gods to Man

We will try to give a little idea of the work portion. It consists of rituals and hymns, various hymns addressed to various gods. (10)

The ritual portion is composed of ceremonies, some of them very elaborate. A great many priests are required. The priestly function became a science by itself, owing to the elaboration of the ceremonials. (11)

In studying all religions you will notice the fact that whatever is old becomes holy. For instance, our forefathers in India used to write on birch bark, but in time they learned how to make paper. Yet the birch bark is still looked upon as very holy. When the utensils in which they used to cooked in ancient times were improved upon, the old ones became holy; and nowhere is this idea more kept up than in India. Old methods, which must be nine or ten thousand years old, as of rubbing two sticks together to make a fire, are still followed. At the time of sacrifice no other method will do. So with the other branch of the Asiatic Aryans [the Zoroastrians]. Their modern descendants still like to obtain fire from lightning, showing that they used to get fire that way. Even when they learned other customs, they kept up the old ones, which then became holy. So with the Hebrews. They used to write on parchment. Now they write on paper, but parchment is very holy. So with all nations. Every rite which you now consider holy was simply and old custom, and the Vedic sacrifices were of that nature. In course of time, as they found better methods of life, their ideas were much improved; still these old forms remained, and from time to time they were practiced and received a holy significance.

Then a body of men made it their business to carry on these sacrifices. These were the priests, who speculated on the sacrifices, and the sacrifices became everything to them. The gods came to enjoy the fragrance of the sacrifices, and it was considered that everything in this world could be got by the power of sacrifices. If certain oblations were made, certain hymns chanted, certain peculiar forms of altars made, the gods would grant everything. (12)

The work portion was [finally] exclusively in the hands of the priests and pertained entirely to the sense life. (13)

The foundation of priestly power rests on intellectual strength, and not on the physical strength of arms. Therefore, with the supremacy of the priestly power, there is a great prevalence of literary and intellectual culture. Every human heart is always anxious for communication with and help from the supersensuous spiritual world. The entrance to that world is not possible for the generality of mankind; only a few great souls who can acquire perfect control over their sense-Organs and who are possessed with a nature preponderating with the essence of sattva guna are able to pierce the formidable wall of matter and come face to face, as it were, with the supersensuous - it is only they who know the workings of the kingdom that bring messages from it and show the way to others. These great souls are the priests, the primitive guides, leaders, and movers of human societies.

The priest knows the gods and communicates with them; he is therefore worshipped as a god. Leaving behind the thoughts of the world, he has no longer to devote himself to the earning of his bread by the sweat of his brow. The best and foremost parts of all food and drink are due as offerings to the gods; and of these gods, the visible proxies on earth are the priests. It is through their mouths that they partake of the offerings. Knowingly or unknowingly, society gives the priest abundant leisure and he can therefore get the opportunity of being meditative and of thinking higher thoughts. Hence the development of wisdom and learning originate with the supremacy of priestly power.

There stands the priest between the dreadful lion - the king - on the one hand, and the terrified flock of sheep - the people - on the other. The destructive leap of the lion is checked by the controlling rod of spiritual power in the hands of the priest. The flame of the despotic will of the king, maddened in the pride of his wealth and men, is able to burn into ashes everything that comes in his way; but it is only a word from the priest, who has neither wealth nor men behind him, but whose sole strength is his spiritual power, that can quench the despotic royal will, as water the fire.

With the ascendancy of the priestly supremacy are seen the first advent of civilization, the first victory of the divine nature over the animal, the first mastery of Spirit over matter, and the first manifestation of the divine power which is potentially present in this very slave of nature, this lump of flesh, this human body. The priest is the first discriminator of Spirit from matter, the first to help bring this world in communion with the next, the first messenger from the gods to man, and the intervening bridge that connects the king with his subjects. The first offshoot of universal welfare and good is nursed by his spiritual power, by his devotion to learning and wisdom, by his renunciation, the watchword of his life and watered even by the flow of his own lifeblood. It is therefore that in every land it was he to whom the first worship was offered. It is therefore that even his memory is sacred to us. (14)

 

c) The Vedic Doctrine of Karma as Applied to the Vedas

1. Purification of the Heart by External Forms

The Vedic doctrine of karma is the same as in Judaism and all other religions, that is to say, the purification of the mind through sacrifices and other such external means. (15)

We had our sacrifices as the Jews had. Our sacrifices mean simply this: Here is some food that I am going to eat, and until some portion is offered to God, it is bad; so I offer the food. This is the pure and simple idea. (16)

All external forms of prayer and worship are included in the Karma Kanda. These are good when performed in a Spirit of unselfishness and not allowed to degenerate into mere formality. They purify the heart. (17)

As sacred charm and strength [dwells] on Aryan altars, flaming, free. (18)

 

2. The Duties of Humanity and the Origins of the Dharma Shastras

The Hindu says that what is in the Vedas is his or her duty. (19)

Dharma is based on work. The nature of the dharmika is constant performance of action with efficiency. Why, even the opinion of some mimamsakas [ritualists] is that those parts of the Vedas which do not enjoin work, are not, properly speaking, Vedas at all. (20)

The main ideas of the Karma Kanda, which consists of the duties of humanity, the duties of the student, of the householder, of the recluse, and the various duties of the different stations in life, are followed more or less down to the present day. (21)

The Samhitas of Manu and other sages [Dharma-Shastras], following the lines laid down in the Karma Kanda, have mainly ordained rules of conduct conducive to social welfare, according to the exigencies of time, place, and persons. (22)

The powerful men in every country move society whatever way they like, and the rest are only like a flock of sheep. Now the question is this: who were these men of power in India? They who were giants in religion. It is they who led our society; and it is they again who change our social laws and usages when necessity demands; and we listen to them silently and do what they command. (23)

 

3. The Power of Words to Produce Certain Effects if Pronounced Correctly

The Karma-Kanda [is] the Samhitas and Brahmanas. The Brahmanas deal with sacrifice. The Samhitas are songs composed in chhandas known as anushtup, trishtup, jagati, etc. Generally they praise deities such as Varuna and Indra; and the question arose who were these deities; and if any theories were raised about them, they were smashed up by other theories, and so it went on. (24)

The work portion consists of rituals and hymns, various hymns addressed to various gods.... Gradually the popular idea of veneration grew round these hymns and rituals. The gods disappeared and in their place were left the rituals. That was the curious development in India. The orthodox Hindu [the mimamsaka] does not believe in gods, the unorthodox [do]. If you ask the orthodox Hindu what is the meaning of these gods in the Vedas [he will not be able to give a satisfactory answer]. The priests sing these hymns and pours libations and offerings into the fire. When you ask the orthodox Hindu the meaning of this, he says that the words have the power to produce certain effects. That is all. There is all the supernatural power that ever existed. The Vedas are simply words that have the mystical power to produce effects if the sound intonation is right. If one sound is wrong, it will not do. Each one must be perfect. [Thus], what in other religions is called prayer disappeared and the Vedas became the gods. (25)

From the time of the Vedas, two different opinions have been held about the mantras. Yaska and others say that the Vedas have meanings, but the ancient mantra-shastris say that they have no meaning, and that their use consists only in uttering them in connection with certain sacrifices, when they will surely produce effect in the form of various material enjoyments or spiritual knowledge. The latter arises from the utterance of the Upanishads. (26)

The strictly orthodox believers in the Vedas, the Karma Kanda, do not believe in God, the soul, or anything of the sort, but that we are the only beings in the universe, material or spiritual. When they were asked what the many allusions to God in Vedas mean, they say that they mean nothing at all; that the words properly articulated have a magical power, a power to create certain results. Apart from that, they have no meaning. (27)

According to the orthodox Hindus, the Vedas are not written words at all, but they consist of the words themselves orally spoken with the exact enunciation and intonation. This vast mass of religion has been written and consists of thousands upon thousands of volumes. Anyone who knows the precise pronunciation and intonation knows the Vedas, and no one else. In ancient times, certain royal families were the custodians of certain parts of the Vedas. The head of the family could repeat every word of every volume he had without missing a word or an intonation. These men had giant intellects, wonderful memories. (28)

Those old priests with their tremendous [claims about eternal words], having dethroned the gods, took the place of the gods. [They said], "You do not understand the power of words. We know how to use them. We are the living gods of the world. Pay us; we will manipulate the words, and you will get what you want. Can you pronounce the words yourself? You cannot, for mind you, one mistake will produce the opposite effect. You want to be rich, handsome, have a long life, a fine husband? Only pay the priest and keep quiet! (29)