By Nikhil A.
Vedas are the foundation upon which the entire philosophy of Hinduism is built. Everyone knows about four Vedas, their names; some may even know a few popular sūktas. If a person asks him/herself one question — what do I know more about Vedas besides just the names; he/she may not be able to list more than three to four things. With this realization, I recently took a course “Introduction to r̥gveda,” designed by Dr. Tanuja Ajotikar [1], faculty of the Sanskrit library [2]. My learning experiences and some “aha” moments are captured in this article.
Contrary to the common belief that Vedas means mantras, Vedas are more than just the Mantras. Vedas have different branches of literature such as saṁhitā, araṇyaka, brāhmaṇa, and upaniṣada. Each saṁhitā has its own branches and sub-branches (depending upon the recitation technique). Therefore, it is quite possible that the same saṁhitā can be recited in different ways. If one has to thoroughly learn any of the four Vedas, one needs to learn all the branches and sub-branches of the Vedas. A fascinating fact is that all of these works of literature are ‘śrutī.’ It means that there is no written version of all this literature. From centuries after centuries, all this knowledge has been passed from one generation to the other by recitation techniques. The ability of the human memory/brain to preserve this ocean of knowledge (that too within the historical turn of events of wars/invasions/battles/regime changes, etc.) is merely remarkable. It is said that the human brain uses only ~10% of its potential. By simply looking at the knowledge preserved through Shrutis, one can say that our ancestors surely knew how to use the full capacity of the human brain.
r̥gveda is literally defined as the Veda of rūka. rūka (rucā) is the verse praising different deities. The deities in r̥gveda are Indra, varuṇa, agnī, āditya, prajāpatī, etc. (There are 150 deities praised/described in r̥gveda). Different rks (rucās) and verses are composed of various sages from the ancient Bharata. The structure/format of verses, sūktas, etc. shows that the composition of r̥gveda has evolved over the time and it is the collective effort of different sages (to name a few would be viśvāmitra, vāmadeva, Atri, vasiṣṭha, etc.). A total of 450 sages have given their contribution to the composition of the r̥gveda saṁhitā. Structurally, r̥gveda consists of 10 mandalas, 1028 sūktas, 10,462 stanzas, and 165,007 words. Linguistically and philosophically, it is believed that the 2nd through 8th mandalas of r̥gveda predates the 1st and 10th mandala. Second through eighth mandalas include the verses praising deities whereas Mandala 1 and 10 primarily has the household, ritualistic focus. The verbal description of these various phenomena/deities/procedures in a (grammatically) structured manner and recitation techniques (known as padapāṭha) of the sūktas show phenomenal intellectual abilities of our ancestors.
The course framework provides the familiarity of some popular sūktas such as agnī sūkta, Indra sūkta, Varun sūkta, Hiranyagarbha sūkta, and Naasdeeya sūkta. Every single rucā of these sūktas can make one ponder for hours while trying to search/study for the underlying meaning. Some sūktas are simpler in construct and relatively easy to interpret. Following verse is the description of the agnī -
चत्वारि शृङ्गा त्रयो ‘स्य पादा द्वे शीर्षे सप्त हस्तासो ‘स्य
त्रिधा बद्धो वृषभो रोरावीति महो देवो मर्त्यां आविवेश || 4.58.3
The literal meaning of this sūkta is “four horns, three legs, two heads, seven hands, tied on three sides, the showerer of (gifts) roars loudly, and thus the great God enters here among all creatures [2]. The literal meaning of this verse indicates the description of regular fire, but it is not just any fire. According to Sayana’s interpretation, this verse is describing the ritual of yajña or the agnī in the yajña. The verse is specific to the agnī in yajñakunda. Four horns represent four Vedas. Three legs indicate the morning, afternoon and evening offerings (practice/rituals). The agnī is tied by three sides (of mantra, brāhmaṇa, and Kalpa). This rucā is the poetic description of the otherwise commonly observed action/ritual.
Vedic rucās/verses are not merely the praise of the deities or the description of the physical phenomenon. There is a deep sense of philosophical knowledge and interpretation. Therefore, without the appropriate commentary (which itself is a part of Vedic literature), one cannot deduce the intended meaning of the verse. It is hard to say if at all any of the verses have the only one interpretation. That is the real beauty of the entire Vedic literature. One can deduce the appropriate meaning provided that he is capable enough and has the authority to do so. Therefore, without a careful interpretation of the verse and linguistic references, one cannot find the underlying description and phenomenon. Naasadeeya sūkta is one of the philosophical sūktas of the r̥gveda. Few rucās of this sūkta and their meaning are as below -
नासदासीन्नो सदसीत्तदानी नासीद्रजो नो व्योमा परो यत् |
किमावरीवः कहु कस्य शर्मन्नम्भः किमासीद्गहनं गभीरम ||10.129.1
Meaning — “Then even nothingness was not, nor existence, There was no air then, nor the heavens beyond it. What covered it? Where was it? In whose keeping? Was there then cosmic water, in depths unfathomed?” [2]. One can postulate that sages are trying to explain and understand the origins of the universe through this rucā. From a scientific standpoint, this rucā takes us closer to quantum physics, which considers similar physical equilibrium/continuum as described by this rucā at the time of big bang. The right next rucā in this sūkta is -
न मृत्युरासीदमृतं न तर्हि न रात्र्या त्र्प्रह्न त्र्प्रासीत्प्रकेतः
त्र्प्रानीदवातं स्वधया तदेकं तस्माद्धान्यन्न परः किञ्चनास।|10.129.2
Meaning — “Then there was neither death nor immortality nor was there then the torch of night and day. The One breathed windlessly and self-sustaining. There was that one then, and there was no other”. This rucā seems to describe the state of a meditating mind where one has crossed the barriers of duality. In the above two consecutive rucās there follows the description of the macroscopic state (that of a brahmāṇḍa) to the microscopic state (that is a brahman). Even though these states appear to be the contrasting perspectives, the enlightened sages might be indicating both of these states like the one. As mentioned earlier, there is no single interpretation of these and one can continue to explore new meanings/interpretations.
Upon the completion of the course, I realized that study of Vedas is indeed the study of language, the study of technology (the grammatical aspect of Vedas is far beyond the linguistics), the study of art, and the study of philosophy. People typically spend their entire life pursuing their careers in just one of these disciplines. If such is the case, then why not introduce oneself to this knowledge in the early educational system. Unfortunately, the mainstream educational system systematically ignores the importance and relevance of the Vedic literature in the academic curriculum. (Forget about the Vedas, Sanskrit itself is an optional language in most of the high school boards). There is a need to reform the current Indian educational system with more emphasis on Vedic literature and perspective. Until we have such a multidimensional and holistic education system, courses such as the one mentioned here should be encouraged and could be used as a valuable knowledge resource.
