I am writing this with reference to ( not in response to) 2 subjects. One message on the Vedic deities and another to Jaymohan Sir’s article on Kanthalur Chalai.
The basic error in understanding the Sanatana Dharmalies in understanding the Vedas and the Vedic practices. Vedas though act as a basis of sanatana dharma– Vedas themselves declare that they are not the final. Swami Vivekanad says – Vedas asks people to go beyond them . The Vedas ask people to go to the Vedanta ie Upanishads for realization.
Now the so called research on Vedas. The Vedas were much bigger in size and in the previous yugas it was easy for every one to master one Vedas. It was felt that it would be impossible for any one to complete the entire Vedas in Kaliyuga and sage Vyasa divided them into various branches – ( sakhas – sakai in Tamil) and declared that it is enough that a person masters one sakha.
The Rig Veda was divided in to 21 Sakhas, Yagur into 109 and Samaveda into 1000 and Atharva in to 50 . While, according to one scholar, the Visnu Purana mentions the number of sakhas to be 1, 180, another version is that there were 1, 133 recensions- the Rgveda 21, the Yajurveda 101, the Samaveda 1, 000 and the Atharvaveda 11.
During these 5, 000 years and more since Vedavyasa divided the Vedas, many sakhas have been lost. Out of the 1, 180 we are in the unfortunate position of having only six or seven. Of the 21 sakhas of the Rgveda there is only one extant- it is called the Sakala Sakha, or the Aitareya Sakha, since the Aitareya Upanishad occurs in it. Of the 15 recencions of the Sukla- Yajurveda only two are extant, the Kanva Sakha having a large following in Maharashtra and the Madhyandina Sakha in North India. Of the 94 sakhas of the Krsna- Yajurveda, the Taittiriya has a large following, particularly in the South. We have lost 997 of the 1, 000 sakhas of the Samaveda. In Tamil Nadu those who follow the Kauthuma Sakha are more in number than those who follow the Talavakara Sakha, while in Maharastra there is a small following for Ranayaniya. Once it was feared that out of the 50 recensions of the Atharvaveda none was extant. But it was discovered that there was a Brahmin in Sinor, Gujarat, who was conversant with the Saunaka Sakha of this Veda. Kanchi mutt sent students to learn the same from him.
This is not some story cooked up. In Thevaram Sambandar refers Siva singing the 1000 sakhs of Samaveda.
சாகை யாயிர முடையார் சாமமு மோதுவ துடையார் (2-94-1)
If we analyse the availabe 7 or 8 and come to a conclusion on Vedas and the Sanatana Dharma - then it will be not be a right study.
Secondly the Indra, Varuna and other deities.
The Vedic rituals have to be understood in a proper prospective. These rituals are an exchange between the heavenly administrators and the humans. The sacrifices are used to get benefit for the wordly life.
Kanchi Mahaswami says -
Briefly told, a yajna is making an oblation to a deity in the fire with the chanting of mantras. In a sense the mantras themselves constitute the form of the deities invoked. In another sense, the mantras, like the materials placed in the fire, are the sustanence of the celestials invoked. They enhance their powers and serve more than one purpose. We pay taxes to the government. However, the various imposts - professional tax, land tax, motor vehicles tax, and so on - are collected by different offices. There are also different stamp papers for the same. Similarly, for each karma or religious work there is an individual deity, a separate mantra, a particular material, etc, but the ultimate goal of all these is dedication to the Supreme God. We know that different departments are meant for the same government. Similarly, we must realise that the sacrifices performed for the various deities have behind them one goal, the Paramatman.
Hence you find more of the Administrative deities in this part.
Vedas themselves advise people not to struck with Vedas and go beyond.
Kanchi Mahaswami Says:
The rituals mentioned in the karmakanda of the Vedas are sought to be negated in the jnanakanda which is also part of the same scripture. While the karmakanda enjoins upon you the worship of various deities and lays down rules for the same, the jnanakanda constituted by the Upanisads ridicules the worshipper of deities as a dim-witted person no better than a beast.
Vedanta it is that Lord teaches us in the Gita and in it he lashes out against the karmakanda. It is generally believed that the Buddha and Mahavira were the first to attack the Vedas. It is not so. Sir Krsna Paramatman himself spoke against them long before these two religious leaders. At one place in the Gita he says to Arjuna :"The Vedas are associated with the three qualities of sattva, rajas and tamas. You must transcend these three qualities. Full of desire, they (the practitioners of Vedic rituals) long for paradise and keep thinking of pleasures and material prosperity. They are born again and again and their minds are never fixed in samadhi, these men clinging to Vedic rituals. " In another passage Krsna declares : "Not by the Vedas am I to be realised, nor by sacrifices nor by much study. . . . " With some thinking we will realise that there is in fact no contradiction. Would it be possible for us, in our present condition, to go beyond the three gunas even to the slightest extent and realise the true state of the Self spoken of in the Upanisads? The purpose of the Vedic rituals is to take us, by degrees, to this state. So long as we believe that the world is real we worship the deities so as to be vouchsafed happiness. And this world, which we think is real, is also benefited by such worship. Thinking the deities to be real, we help them and in return we are helped by them. Living happily on this earth we long to go to the world of the celestials and enjoy the pleasures of paradise. So far so good. But if we stopped at this stage would it not mean losing sight of our supreme objective? Is not this objective, this goal, our becoming one with the Paramatman? Would it not be foolish to ignore this great ideal of ours and still cling to mundane happiness?
Graduating to the Upanisads without being prepared for them through the performance of Vedic rites is a greater offence than failure to go along the path of jnana from that of karma. After all, to repeat what I said before, on has to go through the primary and secondary stages of education before qualifying for admission to college. The man who insists on being admitted to the B. A. class without qualifying for it is not amenable to any suggestion. The one who wants to remain in the first standard learns at least something; the other type is incapable of learning anything. -
With this understanding of Mahaswami's words if we go further
Now the Upanishads talk about the Supreme. This Supreme is according to Advaita is formless but have taken many forms ( and hence one) and to other schools it is Vishnu or Siva is the Supreme.
But all agree that the Supreme has taken a form of Siva, Vishnu, Devi, Ganesa, Muruga and Sun ( or Agni). They may differ on who is supreme but agree on the six and the other forms.
It is for once self realisation, the he worships and medidates on one form of the supreme and reaches salvation.
It has to be understood and wrong to analysis that Vishnu came late or Siva is not mentioned etc etc.