3. The Vedas

In Hinduism, the Vedas are regarded as revelation, the sacred and the ultimate source of all dharmas. Dharma is a richly connotative term that might stand for a divine law or secular duty, social, moral or religious, and religion lower and higher. As in metaphysics and religion, so in modern society, the Vedas are can be rightly considered as the most ancient Indian documents.

There are four Vedas:

1. Rig,
2. Yajur,
3. Sama and
4. Atharva.

These reflect many aspects of human values through the hymns. Human values like truth, honesty, beauty, love, respect, faith, sense of equality, co-operative living, aesthetic values like art of music, abstinence from theft, murder and adultery etc, which are essential for the development of the individual and the society are revealed through different Vedas. Each Veda consists of three parts known as Mantras, Brahmanas, and Upanisads. The collection of the mantras or the hymns is called the Samhita. The Brahmanas include the precepts and religious duties. The Upanisads contain the mental background of the whole of the subsequent thought of the country. The summum bonum of life, according to the Vedas, is the pleasure and happiness of life. Their aim was the achievement of mundane and supramundane welfare for the individual and the nation. In order to achieve this aim, the most important means pursued were the propitiation of Gods, their prayers and yajna, etc. Men and women were used to aspire for mundane pleasures in this life and the supramundane pleasures of heaven in the life to come. Thus they were careful to achieve fulfillment in both the lives. The vedic ethics, therefore, can be called as integral, involving the welfare of the individual and society, mundane and supramundane.

Infact, the Vedic speculation went to the length of supposing that the first products of divine favour (tapas) were these two (rta and satya):

rtam ca satyam cabhidhdat tapasodhyajayata^[1]

Implying that before there could be cosmos there must first be regularity in the behaviour of things, that before there could be social organization, there must first be mutual truthfulness based upon truthful speech and conduct.

“The word rta has been derived from the Sanskrit root r, to go, to change. Rta plainly means that immanent dynamic order or inner balance of the cosmic manifestations themselves. The inherent equipoise of cosmic processes, their inner beauty, for example, is displayed in the shining of the Sun, Moon and Stars in the flowing of the waters, in the motion of the wind and in the secretions of ‘animal and plant’. By force of rta, the milk in the cow’s udder is produce by the force of rta, too, the human brain functions, and so with all cosmic activities”^[2].

According to R.C. Zaehner,

“The term rta is a designation of the cosmic order on which human order, ethics and social behaviour depend”^[3].

Rta is the embodiment of truth, it symbolizes righteous deeds and administrates positive actions.

S.Radhakrishnan states,

“Rta furnishes us with a standard of morality. It is the universal essence of things. It is the satya or the truth of things.^[4]

As in metaphysics and religion, so in modern theory, the Vedas can be rightly considered as the most ancient Indian documents. The ultimate end of life, according to the Vedas, is the pleasure and happiness living up to an age of 100 years. They used to pray for the elimination of diseases and rescue from old age and death. Thus, their aim was the achievement of mundane and supermundane welfare for the individual and the nation. In order to achieve this aim, the most important means pursued were the propitiation of gods, their prayers and Yajna, etc.

The society was divided into four varnas, namely,

1. the brahmins,
2. the kshatriyas,
3. the vaisyas, and
4. the sudras.

Each person had to perform duties assigned to his particular varna.

The total life was again divided into four ashramas i.e.,

1. brahmacharya,
2. grihastha,
3. vanaprastha and
4. sanyasa.

Each individual had to follow the duties assigned for his particular ashrama. Thus the main duties emphasized by the Vedas were the duties peculiar to varnashrama. These were known as varnashrama dharma. This varnashrama dharma has been the main basis of the classification of duties in Indian ethics, right from the Vedas to our own time. Besides the varnashrama dharma, some other duties were also held as important such as auxiliary duties concerned with one’s station in life and society. Men and women used to aspire for mundane pleasures in this life and the supermundane pleasures of heaven in the life to come. Thus they were careful to achieve fulfillment in both the lives. The Vedic ethics, therefore, can be called as integral, involving the welfare of the individual and society, mundane and supermundane.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Rig Veda, X.190,I. cited from Benjamin Khan “The Concept Of Dharma In Valmiki Ramayana, p-24

[2]:

Heimann,Betty:, India and Western Philosophy p-35. See also Bloomfield, Religion of the Veda, p-12.

[3]:

Zaehner.R.C: Hinduism, p-18)

[4]:

Radhakrishnan,S: Indian Philosophy, vol.I,PP.109-110).