Santana Dharma means that it has no beginning or end. The Santana Dharma is not Hinduism. Hinduism is identified with different founders of different sects whereas the Santana Dharma or Vedic religion has no founders.
Hindu idols or deities or temples have nothing to do with the Vedic religion. Vedic people ate beef Hindus do not eat beef. "Beef was an important part of the Vedic diet. thus it proves that the Santan Dharma or Vedic religion has nothing to do with Hinduism.
In ancient India, cow slaughter was considered auspicious on the occasions of some ceremonies. The bride and groom used to sit on the hide of a red ox in front of the ‘Vedi’ (alter).”
In ancient India, cow slaughter was considered auspicious on the occasions of some ceremonies. The bride and groom used to sit on the hide of a red ox in front of the ‘Vedi’ (alter).”
Many scriptures are witnesses to such sacrifices and killings of animals for consumption. References of such commands are replete in Hindu scriptures like Manusmriti, Vedas, Upanishads, Brahmins, Grih sutras, Dharma sutras, and others.
Rigveda (10/85/13) declares: ~ “On the occasion of a girl’s marriage oxen and cows are slaughtered.”
Rigveda (6/17/1) states that: - “Indra used to eat the meat of cow, calf, horse, and buffalo.”
Vasistha Dharma-sutra (11/34) writes: ~ “If a Brahmin refuses to eat the meat offered to him on the occasion of ‘Shraddha’ or worship, he goes to hell.”
Swami Vivekananda said: - “You will be surprised to know that according to ancient Hindu rites and rituals, a man cannot be a good Hindu who does not eat beef”. (The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Vol.3, p. 536)
Dr. Pandurang Vaman Kane says, “Bajsancyi Samhita sanctifies beef-eating because of its purity”. (Dharmashastra Vichar Marathi, page 180)
Sage Sri, Sankara says: ‘Odan’ (rice) mixed with meat is called ‘Mansodan’. On being asked whose meat it should be, he answers ‘Uksha’. ‘Uksha’ is used for an ox, which is capable to produce semen. (Commentary on Brihadaranyakopanishad 6/4/18)
The book ‘The History and Culture of the Indian People’, published by Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan, Bombay and edited by renowned historian R.C.Majumdar (Vol.2, page 578) says: “This is said in the Mahabharata that King Rantidev used to kill two thousand other animals in addition to two thousand cows daily in order to give their meat in charity”.
The Hindu practices of idol worship and temples worship ban on beef-eating introduced many centuries later.
As one peeps into the annals of religious history he finds that Hinduism which exists today is not a continuation of the Vedic religion or Santana Dharma, and it has no real historical foundation. Hinduism is of a much later origin.
As per the researchers, the two faiths the Hindu belief system has drifted miles away from the Vedic faith so that the two seem to be two distinct faiths. It is not difficult to discover that there is no noticeable continuity of Hinduism from the Vedic religion or Santana Dharma.
The distinctive characteristics of the Hindu belief system cannot be traced in the Vedic literature. Besides, although the Vedas are revered as sacred texts, there are many people in India who do not know what ‘belief in the Vedas’ means. In most cases, the acquaintance of the Hindus with the Vedas is limited to the few hymns that are recited in temples and household liturgies.
Max Müller says: ~ "The religion of the Veda knows no idols; the worship of idols in India is a secondary formation, a degradation of the more primitive worship of ideal Gods."
Hindus are idol worshipers of a large number of Gods and Goddesses whereas in Vedas the God has been described as:~
Yajur Veda – chapter- 32: - God is Supreme Spirit has no ‘Pratima’ (idol) or material shape. He cannot be seen directly by anyone. He pervades all beings and all directions. Thus, Idolatry does not find any support from the Vedas.
What God is like? God is formless, timeless and spaceless existence. Thus according to the Vedas God neither has any image nor God resides in any particular idol or statue. God cannot be seen directly by anyone. God pervades all beings and all directions.
Rig Veda: ~ The Atman (Soul or Spirit) is the cause; Atman is the support of all that exists in this universe. May ye never turn away from the Atman the innermost ‘Self’? May ye never accept another God in place of the Atman nor worship other than the Atman?" (10:48, 5)
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad: ~ Brahman (God) is in the form of the Athma, and it is indeed Athma itself’.
Thus it refers to formless and attributeless God, which is the Atman (Soul), the innermost ‘Self’ within the false experience. Thus it indicates clearly all the Gods with form and attributes are mere imagination based on the false ‘Self’. Thus Atman or Soul, the innermost ‘Self’ is God.
The Vedas do not talk about idol worship. In fact, till about 2000 years ago followers of Vedism never worshiped idols. Idol worship was started by the followers of Buddhism and Jains. There is logic to idol worship. Vedas speak of one God that is the supreme ‘Self’ in i.e. Atman or Soul but Hinduism indulges in worshiping 60 million Gods.
It indicates clearly all the Gods with form and attributes are mere imagination based on the false ‘Self’.
The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad declares: "He who worships the deities as entities entirely separate from him does not know the truth. For the Gods, he is like a pasu (beast)". (1. 4. 10)
The Vedas as a body of scripture contains many contradictions and they are fragmentary in nature. For Hindus, scriptures like the Bhagavad-Gita, Ramayana, Mahabharata, and Puranas are more attractive and appealing than the Vedas. And also the Gods and Goddesses they worship differ considerably from the Vedic ones. The collection of hymns called Vedas written, in praise of certain deities by poets over several centuries does not seem to have much significance for the Hindus.
Yajur Veda says:~
Translation 1
They enter darkness, those who worship natural things (for example air, water, sun, moon, animals, fire, stone, etc).
They sink deeper in darkness those who worship sambhuti. (Sambhuti means created things, for example, table, chair, idol, etc.) (Yajurveda 40:9)
Translation 2
"Deep into the shade of blinding gloom fall asambhuti's worshippers. They sink to darkness deeper yet who on sambhuti are intent." (Yajurveda Samhita by Ralph T. H. Griffith pg. 538)
Translation 3
"They are enveloped in darkness, in other words, are steeped in ignorance and sunk in the greatest depths of misery who worship the uncreated, eternal prakrti -- the material cause of the world -- in place of the All-pervading God, But those who worship visible things born of the prakrti, such as the earth, trees, bodies (human and the like) in place of God are enveloped in still greater darkness, in other words, they are extremely foolish, fall into an awful hell of pain and sorrow, and suffer terribly for a long time." (Yajur Veda 40:9.)
So, Yajur Veda indicates that:~
They sink deeper in darkness those who worship sambhuti. (Sambhuti means created things, for example, table, chair, idol etc (Yajurveda 40:9)
Those who worship visible things born of the prakrti, such as the earth, trees, bodies (human and the like) in place of God are enveloped in still greater darkness, in other words, they are extremely foolish, fall into an awful hell of pain and sorrow, and suffer terribly for a long time." (Yajur Veda 40:9.)
Thus, it clearly indicates the God is without the form and attributes and ever free. Vedic Gods, hardly have any significance in present-day Hindu belief system. The Gods and Goddesses important to the Hindus of today are Ram, Krishna, Kali, Ganesh, Hanuman, Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva and the respective consorts of the last three, namely, Saraswati, Lakshmi, and Shakti. None of these deities figured prominently in the Vedic pantheon and some of them are clearly non-Vedic. : ~
The more important religious sects among the Hindus, like Vaishnavism, Saivism and so on, did not have a Vedic origin but had come into existence in comparatively recent times.
Originally Shiva and the cult of the Mother Goddess belonged to the religion of the Indus (Sindhu) Valley people.
Vedic worshipers did not use temples and idols as Hindus of today do. For them, the sacrificial rituals were more important than the temple or idol worship.
The theory of Avatara (‘descend’) of Gods which is very important to modern Hinduism is non-Vedic.
The term Avatara (…) is not found in the earlier Vedic texts, and is absent from the older Sanskrit glossaries”. The caste system which is so integral to Hinduism was also not practiced in the Vedic times.
There is hardly any evidence of a rigid caste system in the Vedas. It is argued that the purushasukta hymn of the Rig Veda (X.90) which is often referred to in order to give a religious sanction to the caste system was a later interpolation.
The Vedas, however, speak of various classes of people, which appear to have been names of professions, and they were not hereditary. The very concepts of castes by birth, upper/lower castes, superior/inferior castes, outcastes, untouchables, Dalits, etc. are clearly prohibited by Rig-Veda”.
Avatara (‘descent’) of Gods, caste system, were absent in the Vedic religion. Only when the Vedic religion with its own as a distinct with its own sacred texts, rites, rules of social life, beliefs and practices without interlinking it with Hinduism the true essence of Vedas will be revealed.
Vedic people did not worship Hindu Gods and Goddesses. Today going to a temple would make you a follower of Hinduism.
Religious people must try to get more empathy and mere Rituals and expertise in Sanskrit do not lead you to Moksha.
Sage Sankara ’says: ~ “Gnana is common to all religions. There is nothing like One Gnana for a Hindu and another for a Christian. :~Santthosh Kumaar
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.