12-16-2005, 05:18 AM
Well, Vedas are supposed to be revealed. In that sense there is some similarity with other revealed religions. And there is nothing questionable about it. If the R^ishis who "saw" the mantras said that they received them directly from the divine, we can't rewrite their claims. We can only accept or reject them. So the claim that the vedas are revealed is very much a part of hinduism.
And time and again over millenia many sages have continually reaffirmed divine revealatory nature of vedas. One such recent sage was Sri Aurobindo who through his own experiences came to the same conclusion.
The major difference is that vedas never claimed finality, or claimed one preferred prophet/rishi etc. And knowledge (gnosis) was always given precedence over mere blind belief. For example in rgveda itself:
yastanna veda kim R^ichA kariShyati
(One who doesn't come to know "that", what would R^ichas (verses of the veda) do for him?")
Which other "revealed" text is so liberal? And yes rgveda itself questions itself!! So the worries about literality and iron clad infallibility and hard dogma are misplaced. Vedic religion and hinduism have always put more emphasis on direct knowledge than mere faith.
In fact this is the central theme of hinduism, that knowledge/jnana/gnosis, i.e. knowing the divine by personal experience, is given paramount importance.
In contrast, in Christianity, the early gnostic movement was thoroughly suppressed. St. Thomas' gnostic gospel has some very "Indian" themes in it. Present church heavily emphasizes faith and discounts gnosis.
Sufism, perhaps the only knowledge based approach in Islam, has suffered the same fate.
And time and again over millenia many sages have continually reaffirmed divine revealatory nature of vedas. One such recent sage was Sri Aurobindo who through his own experiences came to the same conclusion.
The major difference is that vedas never claimed finality, or claimed one preferred prophet/rishi etc. And knowledge (gnosis) was always given precedence over mere blind belief. For example in rgveda itself:
yastanna veda kim R^ichA kariShyati
(One who doesn't come to know "that", what would R^ichas (verses of the veda) do for him?")
Which other "revealed" text is so liberal? And yes rgveda itself questions itself!! So the worries about literality and iron clad infallibility and hard dogma are misplaced. Vedic religion and hinduism have always put more emphasis on direct knowledge than mere faith.
In fact this is the central theme of hinduism, that knowledge/jnana/gnosis, i.e. knowing the divine by personal experience, is given paramount importance.
In contrast, in Christianity, the early gnostic movement was thoroughly suppressed. St. Thomas' gnostic gospel has some very "Indian" themes in it. Present church heavily emphasizes faith and discounts gnosis.
Sufism, perhaps the only knowledge based approach in Islam, has suffered the same fate.