A Tour of Hinduism -II

 

[Note: This is just a summary on some riddles from his book 'Riddles of Hinduism'. To study detail, I recommend you to go through his works. He has really a fascinating study and research on Hinduism. However, there is no intention of offending any religious belief here.]

Riddle no. 1 begins with heart touching approach: who is a Hindu? A very essential question to which a Hindu cannot even have a definite ans as a christian, Muslim and other can ans. The diversified field in Hinduism itself leaves no ground for the people to define themselves. The mixture of polytheism, panentheism, pantheism, monotheism and atheism in Hinduism itself has left a puzzling environment for Hindu people. The diversified scriptures with the evolution of their doctrines, the caste system, etc. have made it difficult for even great Hindu leaders to define their identity in Hinduism. This chapter forces a Hindu mind to reflect on the issue of his own identity in his faith. Many a general Hindus must seek for the ans to why s/he is Hindu?

Riddle no. 2: Origin of Vedas. The ans 'sanatana' is not the obvious ans for its origin. But why Vedas are referred as sanatana? Kalluka Bhatt's commentary on ch 1 shlokas 22-23 of Manu Smriti. Sanatana= eternally pre-existing. Manu maintained doctrine of superhuman origin of Vedas. Same Vedas preserved in previous kalpa in memory of Brahma who is one with the supreme spirit. Rig Vedas was from Agni, Yajur from Vayu and Sama from Surya. Kalpa= reckoning of time adopted by Brahmins. There are Varsha, Yugas, Mahayuga, Manvantara and Kalpa. Mahayuga = 4 Yugas: Krita, Treta, Dwapar and Kali. 4 yugas follow one another in cycle. One cycle= one Mahayuga completes. Every Mahayuga begins with the Krita Yuga and ends with Kali yuga. 71 Mahayuga = 1 Kalpa = 1 Manvantara + some years. Manvantara and Kalpa has no certain relationship. Kalpa= creation and dissolution. Vedas is concerned with Kalpa. With beginning of creation there comes a new series of Vedas. Every new Kalpa has a new series of Vedas. Same Old Vedas are reproduced by Brahma from his memory i.e. Why Vedas is considered sanatana. Question: Who made them? Vedas could not have ex-nihilo. They must have a beginning though not the end. Brahmins are not able to answer this openly.

Riddle no. 3: Shastras on the origin of Vedas. Rig Veda: Purusha Shukta Rig, Sama and Yajur came into being from mystic sacrifice of Purusha. Sama and Yajur Vedas have no description. Many explanation in Atharva Veda. Satapatha, Taitteriya, Aiteriya and Kaushitaka Brahmanas attempt explanation on origin of vedas. Chandogya Upanishad has same explanation as that of Satapatha Brahmana i.e. Prajapati creates with his speech. Two explanation are found in Brahad Aranyak Upanishad. Manu Smriti states Vedas created by Brahma. Vishnu and Bhagavad Purana also explains origin of Vedas. There are 11 different stories: from mystic sacrifice of Purusha, resting on skambha, cut or scraped off from him as being his hair and his mouth, springing from Indra, produced from time, produced from Agni, Vayu and Sama, springing from prajapati and waters, being breathe of Brahma, being dug by Gods out of mind-ocean, being hair of Prajapati’s beard and as being offspring from vach (speech). Brahmins came forward to furnish these answers. They belonged to same vedic school of thought. 

Riddle no. 6: The Contents of Vedas: Have they any Moral or Spiritual Values?  As to morality there is hardly any discussion about it in the Rig-Veda. Nor does the Rig-Veda contain elevating examples of moral life. As to philosophy there is nothing of it in the Rig-Veda. As Prof. Wilson observes there is in the Rig-Veda, which is the stock Veda, scarcely any indication or doctrinal or philosophical speculation, no allusion to the later notions of the several schools, nor is there any hint of metempsychosis, or of the doctrine intimately allied to it, of the repeated renovation of the world. The Vedas may be useful as a source of information regarding the social life of the Aryans. As a picture of primitive life it is full of curiosity but there is nothing elevating. There are more vices and a few virtues. It will thus be seen that the Atharva-Veda is nothing but a collection of sorcery, black-magic and medicine. Three-fourths of it is full of sorcery and black magic. It must not however be assumed that it is only the Atharva-Veda which contains black-magic and sorcery. The Rig-Veda is not altogether free from it. There are in it Mantras relating to black magic and sorcery. they contain nothing that can be said to be spiritually or morally elevating. Neither the subject matter nor contents of the Vedas justify the infallibility with which they have been invested. Why then did the Brahmins struggle so hard to clothe them with sanctity and infallibility?

Riddle no. 10: Why did the Brahmins make the Hindu gods fight against one another? The Hindu theology regarding the world is based on doctrine of Trimurti according to which the world undergoes three stages- created, preserved and destroyed which is endless series of cycle. Brahma creates, Vishnu preserves and Mahesh destroys. They are co-equal in status, engage in contemporary functions and not competitive i.e. they are allies not enemies. This theory differs widely from what we see in the scripture i.e. there is indeed competition in supremacy and sovereignty. God Brahma was once most supreme God-first Prajapati, the progenitor of Shiva. He was arbitrator in the conflict of Shiva and Narayana. The theory of avatars to save the humanity indeed began with Brahma (Boar and Fish). The adherents of Vishnu opposed it later. Vishnu was given many avatars. In the issue of first born, god Brahma emerged out from Lotus that came from navel of sleeping Vishnu inside the flood. He then thought he was first born and later he wanted to verify it but found Vishnu. Brahma denies his claim of first born. They engage in fight until Shiva interferes and says he is indeed true first born. Shiva then admitted to resign his position to either of them. In a particular condition, Brahma cheats with false witness and gets punishment from Shiva of no mere worship of him whereas Vishnu’s honesty earns his status of worship high above all. The adherents of Brahma had their revenge on Vishnu for stealing Brahma’s status in cooperation with Shiva. Their legend says that Vishnu emerged from nostrils of Brahma in shape of pig later growing into a Boar. Brahma attempts to bring enmity between Vishnu and Shiva [Ramayana]. Brahma was once dominion over Vishnu now becomes his creation. Even the same case goes with Shiva i.e. Brahma becomes his creation. Brahma was knocked down from the authority of being worshipped due to his adultery with own daughter. The Puranas are full of propaganda and counter-propaganda carried on by the Brahmins, protagonists of Shiva and Vishnu. Shiva did not compete with Vishnu in issues of avatars. The Saivas and Vaisnavas hence differ in concept of universe, and many other doctrines of avatars, etc. These both sects have been involving in suppressing each other’s gods by bringing their stories against each other. Greek philosopher Zenophanes insisted that polytheism is inconceivable and contradictory and the only true doctrine was monotheism. With philosophical view, it might be right but from historical view, both are natural. Monotheism-society is a single community and polytheism is both natural and inevitable where society is a federation of many communities. Hindu Society has been formed by the conglomeration of many tribes and many communities each of whom had their own separate Gods. What strikes one as a strange phenomenon is the sight of the Hindu Gods. struggling one against the other, their combats and feuds and the ascriptions by one God to the other, all things that are a shame and disgrace to common mortals. 

Riddle no. 11: Why did the Brahmins make Hindu gods suffer to rise and fall? According to the author, having idol is nothing more than having a photograph. So, there is nothing wrong with idolatry. The Hindu idol is a living being and is endowed with all the function of human beings. The idol is given life by a means of ceremony called pranapratishtha. The charge to be levelled against Hindus is that the Hindus are never steadfast in their devotion to Gods. In the history of Hinduism, one finds that some Gods have been worshipped for a time and subsequently their worship had been abandoned along with those mere Gods. New God are adopted and their worship goes with an intensity of devotion which is full and overflowing. The abandoning gods and adopting other new gods keeps on moving in a cycle. In Rig Veda, it spoke of 3309 gods and later for some reason it got reduced to 33. Shathpatha Brahmana explains the composition of gods: 8 Vashus, 11 Rudras, and 12 Adityas. Dyasus and Prithvis. Out of 33 Vedic gods, Agni, Indra, Soma and Varuna were principal gods but later in Satapatha Brahmana, Soma and Varuna lost their position and a new god Surya emerged. It is yet remained mystery regarding abandonment of old gods and adoption of newer gods. Some new gods were indeed anti-Vedic. Shiva was originally anti-Vedic [Bhagavada Purana and Mahabharata, destruction of Daksha’s yajna]. Now, about Krishna: Four persons goes by this name 1st, son of Satyavati, father of Dhratarashtra, Pandu and Vidur; 2nd, the brother of Subhadra and friend of Arjuna; 3rd, the son of Vasudeva and Devaki and resident of Mathura; 4th, one brought up by Nanda and Yasoda at Gokul, the one who killed Shishupal. If Krishna is same as Krishna of Devaki then he was also anti-Vedic. He was pupil of Ghora Angiras [Chhandogya Upanishad]. His teaching was against Vedas and Vedic sacrifices. However, Vishnu is a Vedic god. Next, Rama though not anti-Vedic is unknown to Vedas. A time came when tridevas were placed below the Devi named Shri [Devi Bhagavat]. They fell in their rank and became indeed creation of Devi. Vishnu and Mahesh were born gods but Krishna was a man who was raised to godhood [theory was invented that he was incarnation of Vishnu]. But even then his godhood remained imperfect because he was regarded to be only a partial avatar of Vishnu largely because of his debaucheries with the gopis which would have been inexcusable if he had been a full and perfect avatar of Vishnu. Not tolerating this humble, he became elevated to the position of the supreme God above all. In the Mahabharata, there is rise and fall in his position. The Mahabharata is so full of incidents and occasions which demonstrate Krishna’s inferiority to Shiva. In Rama’s case, he was unware of the fact that he was God. Like Krishna, he was also a man who was made god. Fortunately, Rama did not have to undergo degradation like other gods. He also had no rivalry with other gods and managed to be where he was. They all became a mere toys in hand of Brahmins. 

Riddle no. 12: Why did the Brahmins dethrone the Gods and enthrone the Goddess? Worship of Goddess is quite uncommon. Gods are generally unmarried and have no wives who can be elevated to position of Goddess. Vedic Goddesses were worshipped by courtesy being wives of Gods. The worship of Puranic Goddesses stand on different footing with a claim of worship in their own right and not merely being wives of Gods. Vedic Goddesses never went to battle field and performed heroic deeds. It was just opposite with Puranic Goddesses. Vedic literature is full of references to wars against Asuras fought by Vedic gods. In Puranic times, it was fought by Goddesses. What was source of power of Goddesses in Puranic time that Vedic goddesses never had? Every god had energy technically called sakti that resided in their wives. This fails at some points for Laxmi, Saraswati and Parvati never partook in any heroic deeds and wars and why this theory not applied to Vedic Gods? It seemed as if Gods had to rely on their wives for their rescue against the Asuras.

[My heartfelt gratitude goes to Abhisek Vical from Darjeeling who shared me this book]