Sunday, September 11, 2016

Vedic Deities are indwelling.

The idea that Indra, Agni, etc.,  the thirty-three crore (1 crore = 10 million) devatas are indwelling powers I first heard from Dadaji Pandurang Shastri Athavale.  Dr. Nicolas Kazanas now writes on the same theme:

However, there is a vast difference between the Vedic conception of deities and other traditions including Buddhist, Christian etc, and even Hindu. This difference is hardly ever mentioned and when it is mentioned, as by Edgerton, it is hardly given much value. Vedic deities are forces within man. Yes, of course they are deities outside, all around, natural forces on earth, in the atmosphere and the sky, (the earth itself with its fecundity, waters, rain, air, sun, moon etc); there are also gods of morality like Varuṇa, Mitra and Bṛhaspati. But, as the Atharvavedic hymn 11.8.32 says, Man is the brahman and all devatā (deities, gods) reside in him as cattle in a pen!

....

But the internalisation of the deities had already appeared in the RV. Agni, the Firegod, is said to be set within man’s heart hṛ́daya āhitá and, so, is the constant light of all inspiration, in the early hymn 6.9.6 of the Bharadvāja clan. This luminous power is perceived through mind mánasā nicay – (3.26.1) and itself as mental force manas is the fastest of all entities that fly (6.9.5). Indra too is internalised identifying himself with sages Manu, Kakṣivan and Uśanās (4.26.1) and his state may be attained by men, though not by deeds or sacrificial rites (8.70.3). Then, human functions like foresight and vigour are deified in 1.53.5 as devī prámati and devī táviṣī respectively.

.....

However, I do acknowledge that probably most people in the Vedic age regarded deities as external, imperceptible superhuman Powers that should be worshipped, placated and invoked for favours. Thus, from the very earliest hymns (Maṇḍalas 3, 6, 7) some people or clans, and certainly some rishis, knew that “deities” were not mere Powers of natural phenomena but also forces-functions within man. 

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Ananth Sethuraman's avatar

Ananth Sethuraman · 443 weeks ago

Kazanas writes:

"I do acknowledge that probably most people in the Vedic age regarded deities as external, imperceptible superhuman Powers that should be worshipped, placated and invoked for favours."

Kazanas is offering a popular conception, namely, that people in the Vedic age uttered mantras, or performed homams in a spirit of intentionality. That is to say, uttering mantras and performing homams was a goal-oriented activity. But this conception, for all its popularity, is an assumption.

Wittgenstein has pointed out why this assumption is not satisfactory. Please see Section 7-10 of
http://www.hipkapi.com/2011/02/28/why-social-scie...

Purva Mimamsas explains that uttering mantras and performing homams are not like a magician saying "Chu-mantra-kali" or "abracadabra". A magician will say "Chu-mantra-kali" or "abracadabra", and within a few moments, a rabbit will appear out of his hat. Not so with mantras and homams. The effect of mantras and homams is said to be "adrishta". One meaning of "adrishta" is not observable; in 21st century English, "subliminal" would be a fair translation of "adrishta".
3 replies · active 443 weeks ago
We are told, e.g., in the Ramayana, that Dasaratha and his queens performed some yajna in order to obtain progeny. Is that a modern interpretation of intentionality that is not actually in the original text?
Intentionality is not modern. For example, the sruti on its own declares (this is a famous example cited by Sayana), स्वर्गकामो ज्योतिष्टेन यजेत (Let him - who is desirous of svarga - perform the jyotiShToma (yAga))
Sorry for the typo but that original quote must read ज्योतिष्टोमेन स्वर्गकामो यजेत. Apologies once again.
Ananth Sethuraman's avatar

Ananth Sethuraman · 443 weeks ago

Yes, I think so.

It is best to think of a similar situation in our lives. Let's say that you are a manager. You go to a meeting. The other persons in the meeting are angry because the team you are managing is behind schedule. You know it is going to be a hard meeting. You utter a mantra to Ganesha, before the meeting begins. You hope for the best. But if the meeeting proves to be an angry one, are you going to blame Ganesha? So when you uttered the mantra to Ganesha, was it a goal-oriented activity (or a problem-solving activity or an intentional acitivtity)?

I particularly draw your attention to Section 9 of http://www.hipkapi.com/2011/02/28/why-social-scie... That section says that the rain dance was not really about solving a water problem; if at all the rain dance was a goal-oriented activity (or a problem-solving activity or an intentional activity) then goal (or the problem to be solved) was to keep a traditional lifestyle going.
Ananth Sethuraman's avatar

Ananth Sethuraman · 443 weeks ago

There is another reference about the rain dance:
http://www.hipkapi.com/2011/03/01/is-rain-dance-s...
In this reference I particularly draw your attention to:
It is clear that the ‘rain doctor’ agrees with Livingstone that he does not command the clouds. Only when he performs the ritual and the rain comes only then does he consider the rain his. In other words, the ‘rain doctor’ does not claim a causal relationship.
We can understand the other examples in the same way:
(a) We don't have an expectation that saying a mantra to Ganesha has a causal relationship to a meeting going off peacefully. Only when we say the mantra and the meeting goes off peacfully do we consider the meeting the result of our effort.
(b) Dasaratha did not have an expectation that doing a yajna has a causal relationship to having a child. Only when he did the yajna and the children were born did he consider the children the result of his effort

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