Vedas

“Veda” – Sankrit for “wisdom” or “knowledge stem from oral tradition – rishis written down when ??? 2000 BCE?

Use of the term “Veda” “narrow sense” refers to the Samhitas and specifically the books Rig, Sama, Yajur & Atharva “wider sense” refers to all the different genres: Samhitas, Brahmanas, Aranyakas, & Upanishads

Genres within the Vedas Samhitas – hymns, mantras to the Vedic deities Brahmanas – manuals for rituals and conduct Aranyakas – explore philosophy behind rituals Upanishads - philosophy

Vedic Deities On one level roughly comparable to mythologies in Greece, Rome, etc. On a deeper level (as explained in Aranyakas and elsewhere) are representative of fundamental powers in the universe and in the human being Examples: Varuna, Indra, Agni, Soma, etc.

Vedic Metaphysics Underlying monism (see Hymn of Origins) What of deities? Polytheism? Pantheism? Henotheism? Panentheism? Rita – impersonal force or intelligence governing nature Purusha – the cosmos or creation personified

Hymn of Origins 1.In the beginning there was neither existence nor non-existence; Neither the world nor the sky beyond. What stirred? Where? Who protected it? Was there water, deep and unfathomable? 2. Then there was neither death nor immortality, Nor any sign of night or day. THAT ONE breathed, without breath, by its own impulse; Other than that, there was nothing at all.

3. Then there was darkness, concealed in darkness, All this was undifferentiated energy. THAT ONE, which had been concealed by the void, Through the power of heat-energy was manifested. 6.Who really knows? Who here can say? When it was born and from whence it came – this creation? The Gods are later than this world’s creation; Therefore who knows from whence it came? 7. That out of which creation came, Whether it held together or did not, He who sees it in the highest heaven, Only He knows – or perhaps even He does not know?

Upanishads “upanishad” – from Sanskrit “to sit near,” as students sit at the feet of a teacher Move away from ritual and social duties to “philosophy” Philosophy of the Upanishads known as “Vedanta” (lit. “goal or end of the Vedas”) Not “philosophy” strictly but collections of sayings, metaphors, stories, parables, etc.

Central Questions of the Upanishads What is the true nature of reality? Who am I at the deepest level of my existence?

Brahman From root meaning “to burst forth” or “to grow” The Upanishads affirm that there is one eternal and unchanging reality behind all apparent things – Brahman “In the heart of all things, of whatever is in the universe, dwells the Lord [brahman]”

Brahman (cont.) “Self-luminous is that Being, and formless. He dwells within all and without all. He is unborn pure, greater than the greatest, without breath, without mind.” “ The Imperishable is the Real. As sparks innumerable fly upward from a blazing fire, so from the depths of the Imperishable arise all things.”

Brahman (cont.) Because Brahman is ultimate, eternal, without limitation, etc. it cannot be adequately conceived of or described. “Invisible, incomprehensible, without genealogy, colorless, without eye or ear, without hands or feet, unending, pervading all and omnipresent, that is the unchanging One whom the wise regard as the source of all beings.”