Vivekananda on the vedas (part 33)

[Guest guest]

Parts 1 to 32 were posted earlier. This is part 33. 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 33

4. The Whole Universe Was Created by the Words of the Vedas, the Only Authentic Word of God

Those who believe in the Hindu scriptures, the Vedas, as eternal revelations of truth, are called orthodox, and those that stand on other authorities, rejecting the Vedas, are heterodox in India. (30)

You see the tremendous importance that was attached to the words of the Vedas: these are the eternal words out of which the whole universe has been produced. There cannot be any thought without the word. Thus, whatever there is in this world is the manifestation of thought, and thought can only manifest itself through words. This mass of words through which the unmanifested becomes manifest, that is what is meant by the Vedas. It follows that the external existence of everything [depends on the Vedas, for thought] does not exist without the word. If the word horse did not exist, none could think of a horse. [so] there must be [an intimate relation between] thought, word, and the external object. What are these words [in reality?] The Vedas. They do not call it Sanskrit language at all. It is Vedic language, divine language. Sanskrit is a degenerate form. So are all other languages. There is no language older than the Vedic. You may ask, "Who wrote the Vedas?" They were not written. The words are the Vedas. A word is Veda if I can pronounce it rightly. Then it will immediately produce the [desired] effect....

This mass of Vedas exists eternally and all the world is the manifestation of this mass of words. Then, when the cycle ends, all this manifestation of energy becomes finer and finer, becomes only words, then thought. In the next cycle, first the thought changes into words and then out of those words [the whole universe] is produced. If there is something that is not in the Vedas, it is your delusion. It does not exist.

Numerous books upon that subject alone defend the Vedas....[The mimamsaka (orthodox Hindu) says]: The sound must be the beginning of creation. There must be germ sounds like germ plasm. There cannot be any ideas without the words.... Wherever there are sensations, ideas, emotion, there must be words. The difficulty is when they say that these four books are the Vedas, and nothing else. The Buddhist will then stand up and say, "Ours are the Vedas. They were revealed to us later on." That cannot be. Nature does not go on in that way. Nature does not manifest her laws bit by bit, an inch of gravitation today, and [another inch] tomorrow. No, every law is complete. There is no evolution in law at all. It is [given] once and for ever. It is all nonsense, this "new religion and better inspiration" and all that. It means nothing. There may be a hundred thousand laws and man may know only a few today. We discover them - that is all. (31)

The idea about the scriptures in India became tremendously orthodox. You complain about your orthodoxies in book-worship. If you get the Hindus' idea, where will you be? The Hindus think that the Vedas are the direct knowledge of God, that God has created the whole universe in and through the Vedas, and that the whole universe exists because it is in the Vedas. The cow exists outside because the word cow is in the Vedas; man exists outside because of the word in the Vedas. Here you see the beginning of that theory which later on the Christians developed and expressed in the text: "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God." [John,1.1] It is the old, ancient theory of India. Upon that is based the whole idea of the scriptures. And mind, every word is the power of God. The word is only the external manifestation on the material plane. So, all this manifestation is just the manifestation on the material plane; and the Word is the Vedas, and Sanskrit is the language of God. God spoke once. He spoke in Sanskrit, and that is the divine language. Every other language, they consider, is not more than the braying of animals; and to denote that they call every other nation that does not speak Sanskrit [mlechchas], the same word as the barbarians of the Greeks. They are braying, not talking, and Sanskrit is the divine language. (32)

The orthodox followers of the Vedas claim that the Vedas are the only authentic word of God in the world; that God has spoken to the world only through the Vedas; not only that, but that the world itself exists by virtue of the Vedas. Before the world was, the Vedas were. Everything in the world exists because it is in the Vedas. A cow exists because the name cow is in the Vedas; that is, because the animal we know as a cow is mentioned in the Vedas. The language of the Vedas is the original language of God, all other languages are mere dialects and not of God. Every word and syllable in the Vedas must be pronounced correctly, each sound must be given its true vibration, and every departure from this rigid exactness is a terrible sin and unpardonable.

Thus, this kind of bigotry is predominant in the orthodox element of all religions. But this fighting over the letter is indulged in only by the ignorant, the spiritually blind. All who have actually attained any real religious nature never wrangle over the form in which the different religions are expressed. They know that the life of all religions is the same and, consequently, they have no quarrel with anybody because he does not speak the same tongue. (33)

 

 

5. The Vedas Determine Morality and Cannot Be Questioned

In India these Vedas are regarded in a much higher light than even the Christians regard their Bible. [The Christian] idea of revelation is that a man was inspired by God; but in India the idea is that things exist because they are in the Vedas. In and through the Vedas the whole creation has come. All that is called knowledge is in the Vedas. Every word is sacred and eternal, eternal as the soul, without beginning and without end. The whole of the Creator's mind is in this book, as it were. That is the light in which the Vedas are held. Why is thing moral? Because the Vedas say so. Why is this thing immoral? Because the Vedas say so. (34)

[The mimamsakas] say that you must kill such and such an animal at a certain time if the effect is to be produced. [You may reply], "But [there is] also the sin of taking the life of the animal; you will have to suffer for that." They say that is all nonsense; [they say] "How do you know what is right and what is wrong? Your mind says so? Who cares what your mind says! What nonsense you are talking! You are setting your mind against the scriptures. If your mind says something and the Vedas say something else, stop your mind and believe in the Vedas. If they say killing a man is right, that is right." If you say, "No, my conscience says [otherwise", it won't do]. The moment you believe in any book as the eternal word, as sacred, no more can you question.... It is no use comparing, because - what is the authority? There it ends. [They say], "If you think something is not right, go and get it right according to the Vedas." (35)

This is Indian orthodoxy: the Vedas were not written by anybody, they were eternally coexistent with God. God is infinite. So is knowledge; and through this knowledge God created this world. Their idea of ethics is [that a thing is good] because the law says so. Everything is bounded by that book - nothing can go beyond that, because the knowledge of God - you cannot go beyond that....

You quote a passage from the Vedas - "That is not good," you say. "Why?There is a positive evil injunction" - the same as you see in the Old Testament. There are a number of things in all old books, curious ideas which we would not like in our present day. You say, "This doctrine is not at all good; why, it shocks my ethics!" [The orthodox would reply]: "How did you get your idea? Merely by your own thought? Get out! If it is ordained by God, what right have you to question? When the Vedas say, 'Do not do this, this is immoral', and so on, you no more have the right to question at all." (36)

 

d) The Doctrine of Qualification of Understanding the Vedas Made Slaves of Humanity

There is another idea in philosophy which is according to your modern ideas: humanity is a slave of nature, and slave eternally has to remain. We call it karma. Karma means law, and it applies everywhere. Everything is bound by karma.

"Is there no way out?"

"No! Remain slaves all through the years - fine slaves. We will manipulate the words so that you will only have the good and not the bad side of all - if you will pay [us] enough." That was the ideal of the mimsakas.

These are the ideals which are popular throughout the ages. The vast mass of humankind are never thinkers. Even if they try to think, the [effect of the] vast mass of superstitions on them is terrible. The moment they weaken, one blow comes and the backbone breaks into twenty pieces. They can only be moved by lures and threats. They can never move of their own accord. They must be frightened, horrified or terrorized - and they are your slaves for ever. They have nothing else to do but to pay and obey. Everything else is done by the priest.... How much easier religion becomes! You see, you have nothing to do. Go home and sit quietly. Somebody is doing the whole thing for you. Poor, poor animals! (37)

With all of my respect for the rishis of yore, I cannot but denounce their method in instructing the people. They always enjoined on them to do certain things but took care never to explain to them the reason for it. This method was pernicious to the very core; and instead of enabling men to attain the end, it laid upon their shoulders a mass of meaningless nonsense. Their excuse for keeping the end hidden from view was that the people could not have understood their real meaning even if they had presented it to them, not being worthy recipients. This doctrine of adhikarvada [special rights and privileges] is the outcome of pure selfishness. They knew that by this enlightenment on their special subject they would lose their superior position of instructors to the people. Hence their endeavor to support this theory. If you consider a man too weak to receive these lessons, you should try the more to teach and educate him; you should give him the advantage of more teaching, instead of less, to train his intellect, so as to enable him to comprehend the more subtle problems. These advocates of adhikarvada ignored the tremendous fact of the infinite possibilities of the human soul. Every man is capable of receiving knowledge if it is imparted in his own language. A teacher who cannot convince others should weep on account of his own inability to teach the people in their own language, instead of cursing them and dooming them to live in ignorance and superstitions, setting up the plea that the higher knowledge is not for them. Speak out the truth boldly, without any fear that it will puzzle the weak. People are selfish; they do not want others to come up to the same level of their knowledge for fear of losing their own privilege and prestige over others. Their contention is that the knowledge of the highest spiritual truths will bring about confusion the understanding of weak-minded people. (38)

Cross reference to:

Gita 3.26

e) When the Book Becomes God, the Growth of Humanity Is Stunted

You find that in every country the book becomes God. There are sects in India that believe that God incarnates and becomes human, but even God incarnate as a human being must conform to the Vedas; and if his or her teachings do not so conform, they will not take him or her. Buddha is worshipped by the Hindus, but if you say to them, " If you worship Buddha, why don't you take his teachings?", they will say, "Because the Buddhists deny the Vedas." Such is the meaning of book-worship.....

People do not want anything new if it is not in the Vedas or the Bible. It is a case of nerves; when you hear a new and striking thing, you are startled; or, when you see a new thing, you are startled; it is constitutional. It is much more so with thoughts. The mind has been running in ruts, and to take up a new idea is too much of a strain; so the idea has to be put near the ruts and then we slowly take it. It is good policy, but bad morality. (39)

The glory of human beings is that they are thinking beings. It is the nature of humans to think and therein they differ from animals. I believe in reason and in following reason, having seen enough of the evils of authority, for I was born in a country where they have gone to the extreme of authority.

The Hindus believe that the creation has come out of the Vedas. How do you know there is a cow? Because the word cow is in the Vedas. How do you know there is a man outside? Because the word man is there. If it had not been, there would have been no man outside. That is what they say. Authority with a vengeance! And it is not studied as I have studied it; but some of the most powerful minds have taken it up and spun out wonderful logical theories round it. They have reasoned it out, and there it stands - a whole system of philosophy; and thousands of the brightest intellects have been dedicated through thousands of years to the working out of this theory. Such has been the power of authority, and great are the dangers thereof. It stunts the growth of humanity, and we must not forget that we want growth. Even in all relative truth, more than the truth itself we want the exercise. (40)