Breaking the Chains
Page 4
Although Hindus believe many different things and have no priestly or doctrinal hierarchy, most worship Vishnu, Shiva or the Devi (Goddess), and view the Vedas as the ultimate authority. There are four Vedas. The oldest is the Rig-Veda. It was composed in north-west India in an archaic form of Sanskrit sometime between 1500 and 1200 BC, and consists of 1028 hymns to various gods. The other three Vedas consist of a textbook for sacrifice (Yajur-Veda), a hymnal (Sama-Veda), and a collection of spells (Atharva-Veda); this last Veda probably dates from about 900 BC. The Brahmanas, which deal with priestly ritual and the myths that support it, were composed about the same time as the Atharva-Veda. The Upanishads, which are philosophical come mystical meditations on the meaning of existence and the nature of the universe, began to be composed about 600 BC. Collectively these works are given the designation ‘what has been heard’ (Shruti), and not a single syllable can be changed. The Mahabharata, the Ramayana, the Puranas, and the many Dharmashastras and Dhamasutras which deal with sacred law, are contained in another work, given the designation ‘what is remembered’ (Smriti). One of them, the Manusmriti (Laws of Manu), is attributed to Manu: the first man. In its present form it dates from the 1st century BC.
The name Manu is related to the Indo-European word man and the Sanskrit verb man (to think). In the Vedas Manu is depicted as the first man to perform a sacrifice, and in the Shatapatha Brahmana he is warned by a horned fish about a deluge that will destroy humanity. According to the ‘Ancient Lore’ (the Puranas) the fish was Matsya, an incarnation of Vishnu. He told Manu to build a boat. When the deluge came Matsya allowed Manu to tie the boat to his horn, and then pulled Manu and the boat through the flood and onto a mountaintop. Manu was the only human to survive the deluge. When the waters began to ebb away, Manu offered them a sacrifice of sour milk and butter. One year later the waters gave birth to ‘the daughter of Manu’. She and Manu became the ancestors of a new human race.
It might be useful to mention Vishnu at this point. To his worshipers he is the supreme God. In some traditions the creator (Brahma) was born from a lotus that sprang from Vishnu’s navel. However, it was Vishnu who created the universe. He has a great many avatars (incarnations), several of which have been in animal form: the fish (Matsya), the boar (Varaha), and the tortoise (Kurma). Other incarnations include: Vamana (a dwarf who became a giant), Narasimha (a man-lion), Parashurama (Rama-with-an-Axe), Buddha (born to teach a false doctrine, Buddhism, to the pious demons), Rama (of the Ramayana), Krishna (of the Bhagavata-Purana and the Mahabharata), and Kalkin (who will appear riding upon a white horse at the end of the age of Kali, to destroy the universe). Even though the idea of incarnation can be discovered elsewhere in Hinduism, it is fundamental to the worship of Vishnu and his various incarnations. Worship of Vishnu is known as Vaishnavism. In the Rig-Veda Vishnu is associated with the sun, and his mount is the sun-bird Garuda. Some authorities take this association as an indication of Vishnu’s origin as a sun-god. Vaishnavism can be thought of as a religion in which Vishnu is worshipped as a loving god who can save worshipers from the process of transmigration. Those who worship him look forward to a salvation which excludes the possibility of the extinction of the consciousness or individuality.
Temple art often shows Vishnu reclining on the coils of the serpent Shesa. In Hindu tradition Shesa, also known as Ananta, is one of three important serpents; the other two are Vasuki and Taksaka. Vasuki was used as a churning rope by the gods and demons during the churning of the milk ocean. Taksaka is the tribal chief of the snakes. The Sanskrit term for serpent is naga. Female nagas are called nagis. Nagas are strong and handsome. Nagis are very beautiful. Nagas and nagis can adopt the full human form, but are often shown as half-human and half-serpentine. Hindu mythology portrays nagas as a race of semi-divine beings who are superior to humans in some ways. They are often associated with wells, and are said to guard treasure. Brahma relegated nagas to the nether regions (Patala-loki) after they became too populous on earth. Garuda, the sun-bird, is the archenemy of the naga race.
A brief outline of what has been ascertained thus far seems appropriate. Madam Blavatsky, a significant influence on Jiddu Krishnamurti’s adoptive-mother, imagined God to be unknowable. Jiddu Krishnamurti maintained truth to be a pathless land unapproachable by any religion. Lao-tzu, the founder of Taoism, believed in a possible union with an unimaginable and indescribable ‘substance’ called Tao. Buddhism originated with Siddhartha Gautama. He was born into a religious tradition now known as Hinduism. Scholars assert that Zen Buddhism is a synthesis of Taoism and Mahayana Buddhism. Mahayana Buddhists view Buddha as a manifestation of a divine being. In Hindu tradition Buddha is claimed as a manifestation of the divine being Vishnu. It is legitimate to define Vishnu as a sun-god. Also worthy of note is the fact that the eagle-like sun-bird, upon which the sun-god Vishnu rides, is the archenemy of the naga race.