Agnosticsm...does vedanta consider it?
One of the suktas in Rig veda (earliest veda) is nasadiya sukta (10th Mandala, 129th Suukta). It appears to succinctly state what many agnostics believe(am I right here? not being one, I really dont know) . It starts off saying that in the beginning there was no being or nonbeing(implied is the meaning that the world as we know had a beginning!) And goes on further to describe how the world came about...but the details are very sketchy; but any one who is familiar with big bang theory would clearly see the connection...darkness in the beginning, then the supreme being stirred and the light and heat produced the worlds as we know it. Then comes the part that any agnostic would really love.. it says since everything in the universe including devas came after the being...they would not know precisely what the conditions were before them.
Indeed, final remark is classical: The being/non being in the highest heaven (used figuratively here not the usual heaven-hell type funda) out of which everything came about may know or perhaps does not!!
Later suktas (eg purusha sukta) were more gnostic and firmly believed in a higher being who not only enveloped the earth and universe but also extended beyond it. They discuss the relevance of yagnas. This is also the first hymn to mention the division of society into four castes.
This could be the starting point for all the concepts emphasising on faith in the supreme truth/being before one could attain union. One of the examples that comes to mind is that one would have a great deal of problems if we are confined to a 2D manifold and then tried to understand a 3D world. The visualisation of 3D world comes only at a great practice and requires not only practice but in the initial stages faith that there could be a 3D world before we really get out of the 2D world. Perhaps there is a sound logic for the having faith in god before we could understand and merge in god...maybe the one in the highest heaven knows or may be he doesnt!!
For further reading:
http://members.tripod.com/~anusandhan/articles/article.html
http://members.cox.net/apamnapat/articles/Suktas003.html
Indeed, final remark is classical: The being/non being in the highest heaven (used figuratively here not the usual heaven-hell type funda) out of which everything came about may know or perhaps does not!!
Later suktas (eg purusha sukta) were more gnostic and firmly believed in a higher being who not only enveloped the earth and universe but also extended beyond it. They discuss the relevance of yagnas. This is also the first hymn to mention the division of society into four castes.
This could be the starting point for all the concepts emphasising on faith in the supreme truth/being before one could attain union. One of the examples that comes to mind is that one would have a great deal of problems if we are confined to a 2D manifold and then tried to understand a 3D world. The visualisation of 3D world comes only at a great practice and requires not only practice but in the initial stages faith that there could be a 3D world before we really get out of the 2D world. Perhaps there is a sound logic for the having faith in god before we could understand and merge in god...maybe the one in the highest heaven knows or may be he doesnt!!
For further reading:
http://members.tripod.com/~anusandhan/articles/article.html
http://members.cox.net/apamnapat/articles/Suktas003.html
posted by atma_tripta at 8:48 PM
1 Comments:
Good find!
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