I'd like to focus on the section of the Rg Veda that pertains to cosmology. As we discussed in class, the stanzas contained paradoxes, contradictions, and uncertainty to provoke the readers to think and contemplate the Vedas. I think it is very interesting that in other religions, the teachings are mostly "hard facts" and thought to be without-a-doubt truthful (to the believers); meanwhile, this religion speculates on the big questions rather then attempting to find the answers to them. After discussing and questioning the creation, the section ends with "only he knows, or perhaps he does not know." Who is he? Does he know, does he not know? The answers are completely left up to each individual to figure out, or to not figure out... The duality of these questions progresses to contradict fundamental knowledge of existence, time, atman, life, etc. This leads to further questions like: What is time? Or even, what isn't time? How can there be existence when there was once non-existence? Philosophical digressions and speculations in the Rg Veda about these aspects of the universe make me think of many of the big questions in ways I've never considered to even approach them.
"In humans... atman is said to be clearer than in other beings": I'd like to further questioning about this statement from Zach's post. What did they mean other beings - were they solely talking about animals, or were they including plants, or even things like sky, water, clouds, and other things that their God's often represent?
I completely agree with you in terms of the ambiguity of the answers to the question in Rg Veda. However, I interpreted it to have a different meaning. Rather than focusing on the larger picture and labeling the minute details as inconsequential, I saw the "answers" in the Veda to serve as a "non-answer", so to speak.
ReplyDeleteIn many of the worlds major religions, the greatest opposers pose questions like "How do you know this happened?" or "Can you prove to me that this occurred?" (ex. The Great Flood). The "non-answers" provided by the Vedas serve to deflect such examination. Rather, they essentially say (at least to me), "Believe if you want to. If you don't I won't waste time convincing you otherwise." And I consider this to serve as a major appeal to many people. Religion is based 100% on faith.