What Is the Connection Between Theism and the Belief in the Veda?

O Learned and Devoted Servants of God,

[Shri J Prasad (Prof. Sanskrit, Central University) asked: Veda is the authority regarding the existence of God. It is said that atheists do not believe Veda. The Vedic scholars believe that accent is the main soul of Veda and say that Indra won and killed the demon Vrutra due to the accent uttered in different way. You say that Vrutra was killed due to the will of God and not due to accent. Then, how to consider the above classification of theists and atheists?]

Swami replied: The Veda means spiritual knowledge by which God is known and attained (Enam vindanti Vedena, Vedaishcha sarvairahameva vedyah, Tametam Vedaanuvachanena..., etc.). The greatness of the Veda is prominent because it is the knowledge of God. Hence, the greatness of the Veda is not independent since it depends on the greatness of God. The temple is holy because of God present in it and without God, it is not holy at all. Similarly, the Veda is holy because it describes and praises God. Most of our ancestors are much influenced by the path of puurvamiimaamsaa, which negates the existence of God, keeps the Veda in the place of God and gives importance to the rituals done without understanding their sense (Devo na kashchit bhuvanasya bhartaa, Karmaanurupaani purahphalaani). These people give top place to the sound generated from the Vedic statements along with accents as the God (Shabdamaatra Devataa) and do not care for the meaning of the Veda while the word Veda itself means knowledge! Even the word Adhyayana means knowledge and not blind recitation of the Veda. It is told clearly that the meaning shall be known assuming that these people do not care for the meanings of the words Veda and Adhyayana (Vedo adhyetavyo jneyashcha). Even if they don’t understand the meanings of the Veda and adhyayana by taking the Veda as a text and adhyayana as blind recitation, they can’t neglect the third word ‘Jneyashcha’, which very clearly means to be known. These blind people say that the external temple itself is God and there is no other God in the temple! The outer temple is inert building and has no trace of even relative awareness that is present in an animal and not to speak of absolute unimaginable awareness, called omniscience, present in God. Similarly, if you take the Veda as mere inert sound without its meaning, can it become God? God is not at all inert as per the Brahmasutra (Ekshateh…).

How the inert sound by itself can give results? The inert wooden chappals (Paadukas) of divine preacher are worshiped in view of the value of the non-inert preacher. If one denies the existence of the very divine preacher and says that the wooden chappals themselves are the divine preacher, shall we not say that such a fellow is a crack? In the Gita, Krishna scolded such mad fools, who deny the preacher in view of his inert chappals and called these people as atheists (Vedavaadarataah Paartha, naanyadastiiti vaadinah). At least, ordinary atheists are better than these people, who are not only with wrong knowledge but also mentally derailed! An ordinary atheist does not believe in the existence of God and hence, scolds the Veda, which establishes the existence of God (Naastiko Vedanindakah). These atheists are unable to catch the correct logic. But, the Puurvamiimaamsakas are not only incapable of catching the correct logic regarding the existence of God, but, are also mad by saying that the Veda itself is God. If you go to the palace of king and say that the palace itself is king and there is no king in the palace, will you not be confirmed as a mental patient, who ran from the mental hospital? For these fools, not only the inert sound energy (as per science, sound is clearly a form of inert energy only) is God, but also, the inert rituals give results by themselves! If you are serving the king, the pleased king will give you gift and not the inert service by itself! While going on the way, you touch the compound wall of temple with devotion because the entire temple is holy due to the presence of God inside the temple. By doing such inert action of touching the temple, God is pleased to protect you and not the inert compound wall. I am short of words to scold such blind mad people, who deny the existence of God in temple and praise the inert temple-building itself as God!

The theists respect the holy Veda due to its known meaning, which establishes the existence of unimaginable God with unimaginable power, who can be seen as mediated God or contemporary human incarnation. The creation of this world is done by the unimaginable God (Parabrahman), who is expressed as mediated God with head, hands etc., as we observe the meaning of Vedic Purushasuuktam. We respect such theists respecting the Veda based on their devotion to God just like theists saluting temple based on the existence of God inside the temple. The Veda is very holy because of very very holy God. Without God, the Veda itself is mere sound like the inert temple-building without God in it. Certainly, the Veda is the final authority to know about God. We respect a book of science due to the value of the subject in it and not by treating the book as mere inert material. Shankara condemned these blind people and stressed on the importance of meaning (knowledge) of the Veda. Mandana Mishra argued with Shankara for about a month, got defeated and became the disciple of Shankara.

The Veda means simply knowledge of God and is neither mere sound nor any language like Sanskrit in which the Veda is written. Knowledge has no link with any language. Knowledge of God in any language is the Veda. This is the real angle of the Veda. Knowledge alone gives right direction and right information about God. Once the knowledge is correct, right practice results leading to right goal. That is the real benefit. Without knowing knowledge of the Veda, simply believing the sound of Veda as God is not to be called as ignorance, which shall be precisely called madness. Indra killed Vrutra because Vrutra is a demon and Indra is an angel. Angel is always a good soul in the path of justice whereas demon is always a bad soul in the path of injustice. God always is the protector of justice and hence, it is the will of God to destroy Vrutra and protect Indra. Things will happen only as per the will of God, which can’t be changed by the inert accent-sound of the Vedic statement.

Accents are musical notations to make hearing of the Veda as pleasant. We are not denying the pleasantness caused by Vedic sounds. The importance of accents is that much only and should not be extended too much to make it the highest God. At the maximum, you can give secondary importance to it and the primary importance is only God’s knowledge and devotion. Several devotees, who have not studied the Veda became topmost devotees of God and got salvation.

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