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Traces of Advaita in R̥gveda
Indian philosophy is a “perennial river” flowing incessantly down the ages. Philosophy here is a spiritual way of life; even the universe is also supposed to be spiritual in its intrinsic nature. The Indian tradition draws its inspiration, both spiritual as well as moral, from the very fountain source of all inspirations, i.e. Śruti. The unique character of Indian philosophical systems is that they are not isolated systems claiming their independent origin; instead they are only different stages in the development of thought. The scholars humbly accept that they are only the authorized successive exponents and outstanding spokesmen of their respective systems which have been traditionally handed down to them from time immemorial. They are simply their best codifier. A.E. Gough (1903: 258) comments:
The philosophy has had its virtual pre-existence in each previous stage. What has been more implicit becomes more explicit, but has been no addition from without, no interpolation from foreign elements.
The spiritual temper that had set in under the unbridled spirit of inquiry in R̥gveda crystallized in different currents of Indian thought. Vedas are the ultimate source of inspiration in all fields of life but this faith is not mere “hypnosis induced by undiluted veneration”, not mere blind faith but “a tentative belief terminating in an assured conviction begotten by logical ratiocination”.
Usually we conceive polytheism or henotheism, a term coined by Max Müller, to express the manyness of gods and goddesses in R̥gveda but the fact is that like other Indian philosophical schools the keynote of Vedic hymns too is spiritual monism. To perceive different “isms” – anthropomorphism, polytheism, henotheism and monotheism – in the Vedas is like, to borrow a phrase from Gauḍapāda, “to see the footprint of a bird in the sky” (Sharma 1952: 16). The Vedic seers worshipped naturalistic and anthropomorphic Gods in the hope that they would listen to their prayers, accept the sacrifices and after being appeased, they would bestow their blessings. But soon they realized the inadequacy of their thought. The crowd of gods and goddesses proved weariness for them. They started realizing through the veil of manyness the unity which was underlying it.
The scattered rays dispersed among the crowd of deities are collected together in the intolerable splendour of the One nameless God who alone could satisfy the restless craving of the human heart and the sceptic mind.
– Radhakrishnan 1966, vol. I: 98
The R̥gvedic growth of thought, embodied in different concepts of gods, can be tentatively put in the following hierarchical order:
(a) Dyaus, the god of natural worship.
(b) Varuṇa, the moral god.
(c) Indra, the jealous conqueror who wanted to dominate.
(d) Prajāpati, the god of monotheists.
(e) Brahman, the one maximized essence of each of the gods of the preceding stages.
This has not been arranged in the chronological as well as the logical order of gods. In fact when the texts of R̥gveda were written, these stages had already passed away. After exploring all possible metaphysical aspects – materialistic, atheistic, nihilistic, theistic and idealistic – the monistic view was approved. They started believing that polytheistic beliefs are only different expressions of one all-comprehending unitary power. When the idea of creator God appeared, He was recognized as “the One” of speculative monism. In this way from the pluralistic view of the origin of the world, the monistic view arrived. There is only One being, the wise call it by various names: ekam sad viprā bahudhā vadanti (R̥V I.164.46). It is again said ekam vai idaṁ vivabhūvasarvam, santam bahudhā kalpayanti
(R̥V X.114.5).
In the texts of R̥gveda there are innumerable references dissimilated in hymns, advocating philosophical monism. For example, each of the twenty-two hymns of Sūkta 55 of Maṇḍala 3 says that “the great divinity of the gods is One”. The generic feature common to all these texts is “a pronounced unity (ekatvam) coupled with Omniformity (viśvarūpam), i.e. unity in variety”. Vivekananda also feels that ekaṁ sad viprā bahudhā vadanti is the ground explanation that is given to all subsequent thoughts of India, the one that will be the theme of the whole world of religions. He further says that here lies the secret not only of Vedic hymns, but of all religious life of Indian thoughts.
The gods were never worshipped in R̥gveda in their individual capacities, but as the divine manifestations of that Ultimate God. “Hence, there is no development from polytheism through monotheism to monism, but only of monism from the first mantra portion to the last Upaniṣadic portion” (Sharma 1952: 16). The prayers were not offered separately to different gods, but to all of them. Their address name might have been different like Agni, Varuṇa and Mātariśva, but they are the expressions of the same God. Later on they were comprehended by one name as Viśvadeva which may be said to be an anticipation of later Vedānta. To quote T.M.P. Mahadevan (1957: 173):
It was rather by way of harmonization, by discovering the underlying unity of the different conception of godhead that the Vedic sect arrived at the idea of one God.
The later religious and philosophical thought developed out of “crude ideology and suggestion of early thinkers”. Brahman is the sole reality, and yet a place is found for the multitudes of gods as the manifestation of Brahman. The gods are praised only as manifestation of the Supreme, and not as individual identities different from the Supreme.
The hymns in R̥gveda are not addressed to these natural forces like sun, moon and sky independently. Kokileshwar Sastri (1931: 200) comments:
It is remarkably strange to imagine that the intelligent race of people like the Hindus should exhibit such a lamentable lack of even common sense in allowing the hymns and mantras addressed to inert, non-intelligent natural phenomena to fo...
