The Vedic God : An Evolutionary Journey

By Gurushankar Swaminathan

The sections of the Vedas that deal with the various facets of the Supreme Consciousness is an articulation of the entire experience that the Vedic seers underwent, in their quest to realize that one supreme reality. What we are going to see below (in the Vedic hymns) is a symbolic and mystical explanation of what was experienced in the deepest of the penances by noble souls like Vishwamitra, Vamadeva, Madhuchandas, Agastya, Veda Vyas etc.
The Vedas make an extremely sincere effort to articulate the various aspects of the Supreme Brahman but they also accept the limitations of the human intellect in comprehending that one absolute reality. The Vedic seers grapple with the enormity of the exercise of attempting to understand the Supreme Consciousness and the myriad manifestations of the same.
Unlike other religious scriptures that position a named God upfront and build fables and a laundry list of dos and don’ts around that God, the Vedas try to understand the Vedic Brahman, attempt to pierce the realm of Brahman’s BEING and peep into its NON – BEING state. The seers also attempt to comprehend the passion of the one that made this universe manifest, established the ORDER that is immutable and identify it to be the ultimate TRUTH, the alpha and omega of everything.

Hymns of Creation (Nasadiya Sukta). Rig Veda 10/129/ 1 – 7

1. At first was neither Being nor Nonbeing.
There was not air nor yet sky beyond.
What was its wrapping? Where? In whose protection?
Was Water there, unfathomable and deep?

2. There was no death then, nor yet deathlessness;
Of night or day there was not any sign.
The One breathed without breath, by its own impulse.
Other than that was nothing else at all.

3. Darkness was there, all wrapped around by darkness,
And all was Water indiscriminate.
Then that which was hidden by the Void, that One, emerging,
Stirring, through power of Ardor, came to be.

4. In the beginning Love arose,
which was the primal germ cell of the mind.
The Seers, searching in their hearts with wisdom,
Discovered the connection of Being in Nonbeing.

5. A crosswise line cut Being from Nonbeing.
What was described above it, what below?
Bearers of seed there were and mighty forces,
Thrust from below and forward move above.

6. Who really knows? Who can presume to tell it?
Whence was it born? Whence issued this creation?
Even the Gods came after its emergence.
Then who can tell from whence it came to be?

7. That out of which creation has arisen,
Whether it held it firm or it did not,
He who surveys it in the highest heaven,
He surely knows or maybe He does not!

The last two hymns seen above articulate a negative assertion that establishes the limitation of understanding and conceptually communicating what NON-BEING may have been.

The Vedic God emerges from NON-BEING into BEING. The Vedic God emerges out of the cosmic ardor/ passion (Tapas), establishes the order (Rita) and personifies the truth (Satya). And it is here that space and time get established.

Rig Veda 10/190/1 – 3
1. From blazing Ardor, Cosmic Order came and Truth;
From thence was born the obscure night;
From thence the Ocean with its billowing waves.

2. From Ocean with its waves was born the year
Which marshals the succession of nights and days,
Controlling everything that blinks the eye.

3. Then, as before, did the creator fashion
The Sun and Moon, the Heaven and the Earth,
The atmosphere and the domain of light.

The Vedic seers now are trying to comprehend as to “Who is this God?” and “Who should they offer their oblation to?”.

Hiranyagarbha (Golden Embryo) Rig Veda / 10/121/ 1 -10.
These hymns throw deep insight into the symbolism, mysticism and poetic nature of the Vedas. The golden embryo is where the Divine resides before coming into BEING. This is not about a logical evolution or a step in creation. By ardor, the Supreme one sacrifices to emerge from NON-BEING into BEING. The one that emerges TO BE is the Lord of Beings, Prajapati!

1. In the beginning arose the Golden Embryo:
He was, as soon as born, the Lord of Being,
Sustainer of the Earth and of this Heaven.
What God shall we adore with our oblation?

2. He who bestows life-force and hardy vigor,
Whose ordinances even the Gods obey,
Whose shadow is immortal life–and death–
What God shall we adore with our oblation?

3. Who by his grandeur has emerged sole sovereign
Of every living thing that breathes and slumbers,
He who is Lord of man and four-legged creatures
What God shall we adore with our oblation?

4. To him of right belong, by his own power,
The snow-clad mountains, the world-stream, and the sea.
His arms are the four quarters of the sky.
What God shall we adore with our oblation?

5. Who held secure the mighty Heavens and Earth,
Who established light and sky’s vast vault above,
Who measured out the ether in mid-spheres–
What God shall we adore with our oblation?

6. Toward him, trembling, the embattled forces,
Riveted by his glory, direct their gaze.
Through him the risen sun sheds forth its light.
What God shall we adore with our oblation?

7. When came the mighty Waters, bringing with them
The universal Germ, whence sprang the Fire,
Thence leapt the God’s One Spirit into being.
What God shall we adore with our oblation?

8. This One who in his might surveyed the Waters
Pregnant with vital forces, producing sacrifice,
He is the God of Gods and none beside him.
What God shall we adore with our oblation?

9. O Father of the Earth, by fixed laws ruling,
O Father of the Heavens, pray protect us,
O Father of the great and shining Waters!
What God shall we adore with our oblation?

10. O Lord of Creatures (Prajapati), Father of all beings,
You alone pervade all that has come to birth.
Grant us our heart’s desire for which we pray.
May we become the lords of many treasures!

It is important to note that these hymns (found above) are a favorite punching bag of those involved in human harvests. They use these hymns to claim that our forefathers never received any guidance, as; they seem not to know the God to whom oblations need to be offered. But the truth is the last hymn calls out the Lord to whom the Vedic seers adore their oblations as Prajapati.

And then the Vedic God sacrifices a one fourth of Self to create animate and inanimate things in this universe. This act is what is contained in the most famous Purusha Sukta, Rig Veda /10/90.

This sukta describes the act of Supreme Consciousness where, the Supreme one, called the Purusha here, sacrifices 1/4th of Self and the remaining 3/4th of the one, oversee and perform the sacrifice. There is a kind of a triple principle at play here. The Supreme Consciousness is the object of sacrifice, the sacrifice itself and one that is executing the sacrifice.

The 1/4th Purusha is the cosmic MAN. This sukta describes the MAN to be so large that HE encompasses the entire earth, possesses thousands of eyes and limbs and it is from this Purusha that all animate and inanimate things are born. This Purusha is the divine emanation.

1. A thousand-headed is the Man
With a.thousand eyes, a thousand feet;
Encompassing the Earth all sides,
He exceeded it by ten fingers’ breadth.

2. The Man, indeed, is this All,
What has been and what is to be
The Lord of the immortal spheres
Which he surpasses by consuming food.

3. Such is the measure of his might,
And greater still than this is Man.
All beings are a fourth of him,
Three fourths are the immortal in heaven.

4. Three fourths of Man ascended high,
One fourth took birth again down here.
From this he spread in all directions
Into animate and inanimate things.

5. From him the Shining one was born;
From this Shining one Man again took birth.
As soon as born, he extended himself all
Over the Earth both behind and before.

6. Using the Man as their oblation,
The Gods performed the sacrifice.
Spring served them for the clarified butter,
Summer for the fuel, and Autumn for the offering.

7. This evolved Man, then first born,
They besprinkled on the sacred grass.
With him the Gods performed the sacrifice,
As did also the heavenly beings and seers.

8. From this sacrifice, fully accomplished,
Was gathered curd mixed with butter.
Thence came the creatures of the air,
Beasts of the forest and those of the village.

9. From this sacrifice, fully accomplished,
Were born the hymns and the melodies;
From this were born the various meters;
From this were born the sacrificial formulas.

10. From this were horses born, all creatures
Such as have teeth in either jaw;
From this were born the breeds of cattle;
From this were born sheep and goats.

11. When they divided up the Man,
Into how many parts did they divide him?
What did his mouth become? What his arms?
What are his legs called? What his feet?

12. His mouth became the brahmin;
His arms became the kshatriyas,
His legs became the vysyas
And his feet became the sudras.

13. The Moon was born from his mind;
The Sun came into being from his eye;
From his mouth came Indra and Agni,
While from his breath the Wind was born.

14. From his navel issued the Air;
From his head unfurled the Sky,
The Earth from his feet, from his ear the four directions.
Thus have the worlds been organized.

15. Seven were the sticks of the enclosure,
Thrice seven the fuel sticks were made,
When the Gods, performing the sacrifice,
Bound the Man as the victim.

16. With the sacrifice the Gods sacrificed to the sacrifice.
Those were the first established rites.
These powers ascended up to heaven
Where dwell the ancient Gods and other beings.

Again, I must add that this sukta is used to debunk the Vedas by harvesters of souls. They point to the origin of casteism in hymn #12. But unlike those that believe in a redeemer to overcome the sin of having born in a particular lineage, this sukta establishes that men are born out of Supreme Purusha. The varna system established in the Vedas is based on vocations and there is nothing in the Vedas that espouses the dogmas that the prevailing caste system sticks to. Some of the cases in point: Yajur Veda 18:48 / 20:17/ 26:2, Atharvana Veda 19:32:8 / 19:62:1.

And this sukta evolves in the Upanishads and Satpatha Brahmanas in a couple of different ways. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (I/4/1-5) shows an evolved Purusha that is established in the self (consciousness of I) and then the fable goes on to state that the masculine Purusha created a feminine principle of Self by splitting into two. And this idea is extended to all animate things like cows, stallions, sheep etc to develop the idea of the Purusha Sukta. Again harvesters of human souls point to this Upanishad to claim that Prajapati did many asinine things!

Once the Vedic God enters the BEING mode, the Vedic seers go on to perceive the Supreme Consciousness as focal point of everything and as the cosmic pillar (Skhamba) that anchors everything in this universe, the SELF of the universe.

Atharvana Veda 10/7/ 1 – 40. I am furnishing only a few of the forty hymns to help us get a drift of the hymns.

1. In which of his limbs does Fervor dwell?
In which of his limbs is Order set?
In what part of him abides Constancy, Faith?
In which of his limbs is Truth established?

3. In which of his limbs does the earth abide?
In which of his limbs the atmosphere?
In which of his limbs is the sky affixed?
In which of his limbs the great Beyond?

8. That which of all forms the Lord of Life
Created–above, below, and in between–
With how much of himself penetrated the Support?
How long was the portion that did not enter?

[The part that did not enter, pertains to the 3/4th part of the transcendental ONE that sacrificed the 1/4th Purusha]

15. In whom, as Man, deathlessness and death combine,
To whom belong the surging ocean
And all the arteries that course within him;
Tell me of that Support–who may he be?
18. He whose head is Universal Fire,
Who has for his eyes the Angirases
And for his limbs the practitioners of sorcery–
Tell me of that Support–who may he be?

21. The branch of Nonbeing which is far-extending
Men take to be the highest one of all.
They reckon as inferior those who worship
Your other branch, the branch of Being.

22. In whom the Adityas, Rudras and Vasus,
Are held together, in whom are set firm
Worlds–that whch was and that which shall be–
Tell me of that Support–who may he be?

23. Whose treasure hoard the three and thirty Gods
Forever guard–today who knows its contents?
Tell me of that Support–who may he be?

Perhaps, the above hymn is where the Puranas draw the fable of 33 Million Devas in Indra loka, though this hymn only talks about 30 aspects/deities of the ONE.

25.Great are the Gods who were born from Nonbeing,
Yet men aver this Nonbeing to be
The single limb of the Support, the great Beyond.

Now that we have seen the way the Supreme Reality emerged from NON-BEING to BEING, the way the universe was manifested, the way life forms were created by the Supreme one, the way the Divine became the pillar of support, it becomes easier to decipher, this false belief that Vedas only espouse myriad Gods. In fact the Vedic mind, cognizant of the multifaceted nature of reality embraces the non-being and being, the manifest and unmanifest aspects of the Supreme Reality.

Let us go through a few Vedic hymns.

He is one and only one, Sustains entire universe, Omnipresent, Formless, All-Powerful, Perfect, Omniscient, Unborn, Eternal and supports us always. He alone should be worshipped. Yajur Veda 40:8.

Truth is One; the wise call it by different names. Rig Veda 1:164:46

Power entered within him. He is the one, the onefold, the only one Atharvana Veda 13:4:12

All moments originated from the Purusha like lightning, no one has comprehended him, above, across, or in the center. Yajur Veda 32:2

Divine and formless is the Person; he is inside and outside, he is not begotten, is not breath or mind; utterly pure, farther than the farthest Imperishable. Mundaka Upanishad 2:1:2

However this one Supreme Reality in the Vedas is Brahman and not the ones in Abrahamic scriptures. I will deal in detail what the differences between Brahman and Jehovah and Allah are separately.

Sources:Raimon Panikkar. The Vedic Experience
Sri Aurobindo (1956) The Secret Of The Veda

Aryan Invasion Theory, Vedas and Dravidian Discourse

By Gurushankar Swaminathan

Aryan Invasion Theory, which today having been rechristened as Indo – Aryan migration theory (given that the original position is no longer tenable) is the largest myth that was ever propagated by historians with vested interests that still retain vestiges to their Western paymasters. In this post the scope is restricted to visiting Veda samhitas and Tamil literary works from the Sangam period that render the AIT / IAM theories redundant. This article will also show the integrated, continuous nature of the deities that were worshipped from the now parched Saraswati river basin and the Vaigai river basin in Madura, Tamilnadu. We are taking Tamil as representative of Dravdian languages because, unlike the other 3 Southern states, it is in Tamilnadu that the political and societal idea of Aryan / Dravidian divide is more vocally and visibly pronounced.

Evidence from Rig Veda:

Rig Veda does not give even a shred of evidence of any invasion or migration to have taken place from outside or the Rishis of Vedas having been part of expeditions into India from somewhere else. But Indologists and apologists of AIT / IAM use Rig Veda to try to establish their standpoint. They use the invocation of Indra by Angiras family of Rishis to slay the likes of Dasyus and Panis as evidences that an invading Aryan army slaughtered the aborigines of India that were Dravidians. Before we move ahead let us establish what Dravida means. In Sanskrit, it loosely means liquid like or watery. The root word for this is Drava in Sanksrit. And importantly, in Tamil, the word Dravidian or Dravida hardly gets mentioned in the Sangam literature of Tamils. The corpus of Sangam literature is the most authentic chronicling of the life, times, theology, events, wars, business, natural calamities, Tamil grammar etc of the Tamils starting from 600 BC to 200 AD. To put it in another way, if hypothetically the invading Aryans pushed the Dravidians South of Vindyas and killed many Dravidians (based on Rig Veda), the earliest Tamil literary works obviously ought to have mentioned the mayhem in the so called Dravidian literary works of the Sangam age.

The Tamil literary works started using the word “Dravida” only in the 9^th century AD but that too only in the context of linguistics. And a Tamil lexicon of the 9^th century AD called “Senthan Divakaram” uses Dravidam to denote Tamil.

Now, let us move to understanding how the AIT / IAM apologists use Dasyus to claim that invading Aryans slaughtered the so called native Dasyus and let us also explore a few questions. The apologists point to Rig Veda 10/48, where, Indra is seen to have destroyed Dasyus, Vrtras and Panis with his might, captured wealth and also mentions that those in his company will not be felled. But what the apologists do not delve into is to understand the characterization of the likes of Dasyus , Vrtras and Panis (the last 2 being a kind of Dasyu) in Rig Veda. Who are the Dasyus? When we look up Rig Veda 1/33/1 – 10, it becomes obvious that the wealth that Indra captures is actually knowledge. RV/1/33/1 ends with "gavam ketam param avarjate nah." It means supreme knowledge of the luminous cows. And the whole verse means - come let us go seeking the cows to Indra, it is he that increases the thought in us, for us, he releases supreme knowledge of the luminous cows.

Let us first understand, in Vedas, those that do the Soma pressing or other Vedic sacrifices for divinities are called yajyu. The divinities to whom these sacrifices are offered are called yajata. The yaju by virtue of his goodwill is sukratu. Sukratus by virtue of their works find the “divine word” and having found the divine word, a sukratu becomes the singer of the word.

But Dasyu is the opposite principle of both Sukratu and Yajyu. Dasyu is also called "Ayajyu” (opposite of Yajyu). And interestingly an Ayajyu is a hater of the singer of the divine word (this quality is Ayajyu called brahmadvisa) and IMPORTANTLY an Ayajyu is ANASA (has no mouth to speak) and has no mental faculties (Amanyamana). And across the Vedas the Dasyus like Panis and Vritras withhold the kine (the kine are not physical cows and sheep but they point to knowledge) and this kine has to be forcefully extracted with Indra's help by man. And in another place in RV, it is stated that Panis (a type of Dasyu), plunders and steals the cows and hides them in his cave. With the help of Indra the knowledge, the luminous cows are secured by man. RV/6/51/14 calls Indra to destroy the Panis and equates Panis to wolf.

And let us also look at a few more items that Indra won by destroying Dasyus.

RV/3/34/7-10:

7 Lord of the brave, Indra who rules the people gave freedom to the Gods by might and battle. Wise singers glorify with chanted praises these his achievements in Vivasvan's dwelling.

8 Excellent, Conqueror, the victory-giver, the winner of the light and Godlike Waters,He who hath won this broad earth and this heaven, -in Indra they rejoice who love devotions.

9 He gained possession of the Sun and Horses, Indra obtained the Cow who feedeth many.Treasure of gold he won; he smote the Dasyus, and gave protection to the Aryan colour.

10 He took the plants and days for his possession; he gained the forest trees and air's mid-region.Vala he cleft, and chased away opponents: thus was he tamer of the overweening.

Indra secures forest trees, mid air, plants and days. Now, if Dasyus were HUMAN non-Aryan tribes, how come Indra secures the DAYS and MID-AIR from mortals? The allegory of Dasyus continues in the Rig Veda, where, Indra then actually chases Dasyus out of heaven and earth by the power of his thunderbolt. Indra's greatness keeps increasing and the luminosity of Indra leaves Dayus with nowhere to hide. Indra recovers the lost Sun and as this Sun rises, it illuminates the caves where Vala (a type of Dasyus) has hidden the luminous cows.

So, we clearly have a scenario that completely contradicts the possibility of Dasyus ever being Dravidian tribes that Indra destroyed. So the Rig Veda based attempts to prop up the non-existent AIT/IAM falls flat. Rest assured Dravidians (of AIT/IAM) do have noses and are able to speak and are intelligent people unlike the Dasyus of Rig Veda.

Evidence from Sangam Literature:

Now let us travel to Tamil / Dravidian land to see if Tamils were really people that were completely different from the so called Aryans and if they showed signs of being brutalized by invading Aryans. While there are extensive works that fall under the Sangam literature, let us pick some of the most important works to see what the Dravidians worshipped as their deities. It is important to note that Sangam literature categorizes land into Mullai (forests), Kurinchi (hills), Marudam (Farm lands), Neidal (Sea Coast) and Palai (Barren). Tolkappaiyam mentions the following as the presiding deities of these lands – Mullai: Tirumal (Vishnu), Kurinchi: Seyon (or Kumara / Murugua/Kartikeya), Marudam: Vendan (Indra), Neidal: Varunan (Varuna) and Palai: Korravai (Shakti). Another key Sangam literary work called Purananuru talks about the legend of Lord Shiva destroying the three cities (Tripura Samhara). Shiva is said to have taken the lofty Meru mountain in his hand as bow and with the terrific serpent as bow string and a single arrow destroyed the cities sending them into flames. And the deity of Seyon (Kumara / Kartikeya), is repeatedly seen across Purananuru and Ahananuru as being the progeny of Shiva. This ties us back to Agni, the Kumara, template of the Puranic Kartikeya, being an aspect of Rudra.

Some AIT / IAM apologists try to make Shiva to be an exclusive Dravidian deity to keep the theory running. Shiva of Puranas is derived from aspects of Rudra of Vedas. In Vedas, if you delve deeper into attributes of Rudra, across Rig Veda or the Rudram / Chamakam sections of Yajur Veda, a common set of attributes is easy to be seen. And Shiva is all but one aspect of Rudra that is mentioned in Rudram / Chamakam. While the usage of Rudra has been replaced at large by Shiva, the attributes of Vedic Shiva / Rudra and those described in works like Periya Puranam of Tamil literature are the same. In places like Tiruvannamalai or Chaidmabaram, in addition to Thevaram, Rudram / Chamakam is also recited, if Shiva of Tamils and Shiva or Puranas / Vedas are different. If anything, the Taittriya Samhita of Yajur Veda (where Rudram / Chamakam occurs) is a tradition that is living primarily in Tamil Nadu, AP and Karnataka, today.

Conclusion: From this small attempt to put things in perspective, it is very easy to understand that the AIT/IAM, based on Rig Veda and the premier Tamil Sangam literary works is a farce. If anything, it is easy to see that this great land has been inhabited by people that belong to the same Vedic family. Differences based on linguistics, skin color, local culture, cuisines etc are being played up by vested interests today, as it were done 150 years ago. To repeat it, this land was inhabited by followers of the same Vedic Dharma until the early part of last millennium.

P.S: We have not even touched the theological works of Alwars (Vaishnavites) and Nayanmars (Shaivites) to establish the oneness of the Vedic dharma of this land.