{"id":1902,"date":"2013-07-13T01:38:11","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=1902"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:38:11","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:38:11","slug":"91-interpretation-of-the-veda-appendix-vol-15-the-secret-of-veda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/03-cwsa\/15-the-secret-of-veda\/91-interpretation-of-the-veda-appendix-vol-15-the-secret-of-veda","title":{"rendered":"-91_Interpretation of the Veda – Appendix.html"},"content":{"rendered":"
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<\/p>\n

Appendix<\/font><\/b>
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

The following letter was written in response to criticisms
\nof the opening chapter of The Secret of the Veda <\/i>made in a review of the first issue of the
\nArya<\/i>. The review
\nappeared in the Hindu <\/i>of Madras on 24 August 1914. Sri Aurobindo’s letter was written on 26 August and
\npublished the next day in the Hindu<\/i>.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Interpretation of the Veda <\/font><\/b>
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\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

MR. AUROBINDO GHOSE writes to us from Pondicherry: —
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

While thanking you for the generous appreciation in your review of the “Arya”, may I also crave the indulgence of your
\ncolumns, —if indeed you can spare so much space at such a time when the whole world is absorbed in the gigantic homicidal
\nconflict convulsing Europe, —for an answer to your criticisms on my “Secret of the Veda”, or rather to an explanation of my
\nstandpoint which the deficiencies of my expression and the brief and summary character of my article in the “Arya” have led
\nyou, in some respects, to misconceive?
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n

Surely, I have nowhere said that “knowledge of which no
\norigin can be traced to previous sources must necessarily be disregarded or discarded”! That would be indeed a monstrous
\nproposition! My point was that such knowledge, when it expressed a developed philosophy and psychology, stood in need
\nof historical explanation, —a very different matter. If we accept the European idea of an evolving knowledge in humanity, —
\nand it is on that basis that my argument proceeded —we must find the source of the Brahmavada either in an extraneous origin
\nsuch as a previous Dravidian culture —a theory which I cannot admit, since I regard the so-called Aryans and Dravidians as one
\nhomogeneous race —or in a previous development, of which the records have either been lost or are to be found in the Veda itself.
\nI cannot see how this argument involves a regressus ad infinitum<\/i> except in so far as the whole idea of evolution and progressive
\ncausality lies open to that objection. As to the origins of the Vedic religion, that is a question which cannot be solved at present for
\nlack of data. It does not follow that it had no origins or in other words that humanity was not prepared by a progressive spiritual
\nexperience for the Revelation. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage – 593<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\t\t\t<\/font>
\n\t\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Again, I certainly did not intend to express my own idea in the description of the Upanishads as a revolt of philosophic
\nminds against the ritualistic materialism of the Vedas. If I held that view, I could not regard the earlier Sruti as an inspired
\nscripture or the Upanishads as Vedanta and I would not have troubled myself about the secret of the Veda. It is a view held by
\nEuropean scholars and I accepted it as the logical consequence, if the ordinary interpretations of the hymns, whether Indian
\nor European, are to be maintained. If the Vedic hymns are, as represented by Western scholarship, the ritualistic compositions
\nof joyous and lusty barbarians the Upanishads “have then to be conceived as a revolt . . . against the ritualistic materialism of
\nthe Vedas.” From both premiss and conclusion I have dissented and I have finally described, not only the Upanishads, but all
\nlater forms, as a development from the Vedic religion and not a revolt against its tenets.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n

Our Indian doctrine avoids the difficulty in another way, by interpreting the Veda as a book of ritual hymns and revering it as
\na book of knowledge. It puts together two ancient truths without reconciling them effectively. In my view, that reconciliation can
\nonly be effected by seeing even in the exterior aspect of the hymns not a ritualistic materialism, but a symbolic ritualism.
\nNo doubt the karmakanda was regarded as an indispensable stepping-stone to the knowledge of the Atman. That was an
\narticle of religious faith, and as an article of faith I do not dispute its soundness. But it becomes valid for the intellect —and in an
\nintellectual inquiry I must proceed by intellectual means, —only if the karmakanda is so interpreted as to show how its performance assists, prepares or brings about the higher knowledge. Otherwise, however much the Veda may be revered in theory,
\nit will be treated in practice as neither indispensable nor helpful and will come in the end to be practically set aside —as has
\nactually happened.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n

I am aware that some hymns of the Veda are interpreted
\nin a sense other than the ritualistic; even the European scholars admit higher religious and spiritual ideas in the “later hymns”
\nof the Vedas. I am aware also that separate texts are quoted
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage – 594<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\t\t\t<\/font>
\n\t\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\nin support of philosophical doctrines. My point was that such exceptional passages do not alter the general tone and purport
\ngiven to the hymns in the actual interpretations we possess. With those interpretations, we cannot use the Rig Veda as a whole,
\nas the Upanishads can be used as a whole, as the basis of a high spiritual philosophy. Now, it is to the interpretation of the Veda
\nas a whole and to its general character that I have addressed myself.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n I quite acknowledge that there has always been a side-stream of tendency making for the adhyatmic interpretation of the Veda
\neven as a whole. It would be strange if in a nation so spiritually minded such attempts had been entirely lacking. But still these
\nare side-currents and have not received general recognition. For the Indian intellect in general, there are only two interpretations,
\nSayana’s and the European. Addressing myself to that general opinion, it is with these two that I am practically concerned.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n I am still of the opinion that the method and results of the early Vedantins differed entirely from the method and results of
\nSayana, for reasons I shall give in the second and third numbers of “Arya”. Practically, not in theory, what is the result of
\nSayana’s commentary? What is the general impression it leaves on the mind? Is it the impression of “Veda”, a great Revelation, a book of highest knowledge? Is it not rather that which the European scholars received and from which their theories
\nstarted, a picture of primitive worshippers praying to friendly gods, friendly but of a doubtful temper, gods of fire, rain, wind,
\ndawn, night, earth and sky, for wealth, food, oxen, horses, gold, the slaughter of their enemies, even of their critics, victory in
\nbattle, the plunder of the conquered? And if so, how can such hymns be an indispensable preparation for the Brahmavidya?
\nUnless, indeed, it is a preparation by contraries, by exhaustion or dedication of the most materialistic and egoistic tendencies,
\nsomewhat as the grim old Hebrew Pentateuch may be described as a preparation for the mild evangel of Christ. My position is
\nthat they were indispensable not by a mechanical virtue in the sacrifice, but because the experiences to which they are the key
\nand which were symbolised by the ritual, are necessary to an <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage – 595<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\t\t\t<\/font>
\n\t\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

integral knowledge and realisation of Brahman in the universe and prepare the knowledge and realisation of the transcendent
\nBrahman. They are, to paraphrase Shankara’s description, mines of all knowledge, knowledge on all the planes of consciousness,
\nand do fix the conditions and relations of the divine, the human and the animal element in the being.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n

I do not claim that mine is the first attempt to give an adhyatmic interpretation of the Veda. It is an attempt —the
\nfirst or the hundredth matters little —to give the esoteric and psychological sense of the Veda based throughout on the most
\nmodern method of critical research. Its interpretation of Vedic vocables is based on a re-examination of a large part of the field
\nof comparative Philology and a reconstruction on a new basis which I have some hope will bring us nearer to a true science
\nof Language. This I propose to develop in another work, the “Origins of Aryan Speech”. I hope also to lead up to a recovery
\nof the sense of the ancient spiritual conceptions of which old symbol and myth give us the indications and which I believe to
\nhave been at one time a common culture covering a great part of the globe with India, perhaps, as a centre. In its relation to
\nthis methodical attempt lies the only originality of the “Secret of the Veda”.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

The Hindu<\/font><\/i>, 27 August 1914
\n\t\t\t<\/font>
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage – 596<\/font><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Appendix   The following letter was written in response to criticisms of the opening chapter of The Secret of the Veda made in a review…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-15-the-secret-of-veda","wpcat-41-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1902\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}