Dayananda and The Vedas-III

All the rest of Dayananda’s theory arises logically out of the fundamental conception. If the names of the godheads express qualities of the one Godhead and it is these which the Rishis adored and towards which they directed their aspiration, then there must inevitably be in the Veda a large part of psychology of the Divine Nature, psychology of the relations of man with God and constant indication of the law governing man’s Godward conduct Dayananda asserts the presence of such an ethical element, he finds in the Veda the law of life given by God to the human being. And if the Vedic god heads express the powers of a Supreme Deity who is Creator, Ruler and Father of the universe, then there must inevitably be in the Veda a large part of cosmology, the law of creation and of cosmos. Dayananda asserts the presence of such a cosmic element, he finds in the Veda the secrets of creation and the law of Nature by which the Omniscient governs the world.

जीवन जीने की सही कला जानने एवं वैचारिक क्रान्ति और आध्यात्मिक उत्थान के लिए
वेद मर्मज्ञ आचार्य डॉ. संजय देव के ओजस्वी प्रवचन सुनकर लाभान्वित हों।
यज्ञ में एक ही मन्त्र से पांच आहुतियाँ क्यों

Ved Katha Pravachan _31 (Vedic Secrets of Happy Life & Happiness) वेद कथा - प्रवचन एवं व्याख्यान Ved Gyan Katha Divya Pravachan & Vedas explained (Introduction to the Vedas, Explanation of Vedas & Vaidik Mantras in Hindi) by Acharya Dr. Sanjay Dev

Neither Western scholarship nor ritualistic learning has succeeded in eliminating the psychological and ethical value of the hymns. But they have both tended in different degrees to minimise it. Western scholars minimise because they feel uneasy whenever ideas that are not primitive seem to insist on their presence in these primeval utterances; they do not hesitate openly to abandon in certain passage interpretations which they adopt in others and which are admittedly necessitated by their own philological and critical reasoning; because, if admitted always, they would often involve deep and subtle Psychological conceptions which can not have occurred to primitive minds! Sayana minimises because his theory of Vedic discipline was not ethical righteousness with a moral and spiritual result but mechanical performance of ritual with a material reward. But in spite of these efforts of suppression. The lofty ideas of these Veda still reveal themselves in strange contrast to its alleged burden of fantastic naturalism or dull ritualism. The Vedic godheads are constantly hymned as Master of Wisdom, Power, Purity. purifiers, healers of grief and evil, destroyers of sin and falsehood, warriors for the truth, constantly the Rishis pray to them for healing and purification, to be made seers of knowledge, possessors of the truth; to be upheld in the divine law, to be assisted and armed with strength, manhood and energy Dayananada has brought this idea of the divine right and truth into the Veda! The Veda is as much and more a book of divine Law as the Hebrew Bible or the Zoroastrian Avesta.

The cosmic element is not less conspicuous in the Veda; the Rishis speak always of the worlds, the firm laws that govern them, the divine workings in the cosmos. But Dayananda goes farther; he affirms that the truths of modern physical science are discovered in the hymns. Here we have the sole point of fundamental principal about which there can be any justifiable misgivings. I confess my incompetence to advance any settled opinion in the matter. But this much needs to be said that his idea is increasingly supported by the recent trend of knowledge about the ancient world. The ancient civilizations did possess secrets of science, some of which modern knowledge has recovered, extended and made more rich and precise, but others are even now not recovered. There is then nothing fantastic in Dayananda’s idea that the Veda contains truth of science as well as truth of religion. I will even add my own conviction that the Veda contains other truths of a Science the modern world does not at all possess, and in case Dayananda has rather understated than overstated the depth and range of the Vedic wisdom.

Objection has also been made to the philological and etymological method by which he arrived at his results, especially in his dealings with the names of the godheads. But this objection, I feel certain, is an error due to our introduction of modern ideas about language into our study of this ancient tongue. We moderns use words as counters without any memory or appreciation of their original sense : When we speak we think of the object spoken of, not at all of the expressive word which is to us a dead and brute thing, mere coin of verbal currency with no value of its own. In early language the word was on the contrary a living thing with essential powers of signification; its root meanings were remembered because they were still in use, its wealth of force was vividly present to the mind of the speaker. We say “wolf” and think only of the animal, any other sound would have served our purpose as well, given the convention of its usage; the ancients said “tearer’’ and had that significance present to them. We say “agni” and think of fire, the word is of no other use to us; to the “agni’’ meant other things besides and only because of one or more of its root meanings was applied to the physical object fire, our words are carefully limited to one or two senses, their were capable of a great number of connected and complex ideas a keyword. It cannot be doubted that the Vedic Rishis did take advantage of this greater potentiality of their language note their dealings with such words as gau and chandra. The Nirukta bears evidence to this capacity and in the Brahmans and Upanishads we find the memory of this free and symbolic use of words still subsisting.- Yogi Aurobindo Ghosh

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Dayananda and The Vedas-III

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