SCRIPTURE
3 layers.
Three ways (margas); three constituencies.
The Vedas = Knowledge – audience – priests. Path – sacrifices and ritual/duties (dharma marga).
Rig Veda – see HYMN OF MAN (pp 98-99) Four Varnas.
Sama Veda
Yajur Veda
Atharva Veda (written circa 1,200 BCE).
Varuna (SKY, Sustainer), Indra (War), Rudra (Destroyer)
The “THAT”, All-in-All. Four Varnas/sacrifices/priests.
Rg Veda x, 129:
There was neither existence nor non-existence, the kingdom of air nor the sky beyond. What was there to contain, to cover in – was it but vast, unfathomed depths of Water? There was no death there, not immortality. No sun was there, dividing day from night. Then there was only THAT, resting within itself. Apart from it, there was not anything. At first within the darkness veiled in darkness Chaos unknowable, the ALL lay hid …
UPANISHADS (800-400 BCE)/philosophy/VEDANTA (end of the Vedas) Constituency – “thinkers”/path (jnana marga)
VEDAS accepted EXISTENCE, Upanishads offer EXLANATIONS.
The ATMAN is the BRAHMAN (THAT) WITHIN
Svetasvatara Upanishad (Part3)
Greater than all is Brahman, the Supreme, the Infinite. He dwells in the mystery of all beings according to their forms in nature. Those who know him who knows all, and in whose glory all things are, attain immortality. He is the inmost soul of all, which like a little flame the size of a thumb is hidden in the hearts of men. He is the master of wisdom ever reached by thought and love. He is the immortality of those who know him. Concealed in the heart of all beings lies the Atman, the Spirit, the Self; smaller than the smallest atom, greater than the greatest spaces. When by the grace of God man sees the glory of God, he sees beyond him the world of desires and then sorrows are left behind.
PURANAS (500-200 BCE) Constistuency – everyone. Path – bhakti marga.
LAWS OF MANU (200 BCE-200CE) page 99-103.
The TRIMURTI, Brahma (Creator) + Sawaswati, Vishnu (Preserver) + AVATARAS + Lakshmi, Shiva (Destroyer) + Parvati/Sakti (Manifestations of BRAHMAN). 330 million!!!!!
Mahabharata: traditional date 850 BCE (probably 200 BCE - 200 CE). 18 pts.100,000 Stanzas (poetry).
· contains the Bhagavadgita (songs of the Lord); Krishna “father and mother ... all that need be known ... the sacred syllable OM”
· “even those who worship other Gods with love ... do really worship me” (M pp 70 - 95)
· Popular bhakti religion transcends class/gender
· Ramayana (400CE)
Mahabharata: revealed by Brahma, recited by Vyasa, written down by Ganesha (broke a tusk for a stylus).
Kingdom of Bharata; city of Hastinapur.
King Shantanu marries fisher-girl, Satyavati (miraculous origin), whose son is Vyasa.
Satyavati’s sons must succeed (marriage condition); Shantanu’s son by first wife, Ganga,
Bhishma, vows celibacy/loyalty to throne.
Bhishma wins 3 princesses for King Vichitra-virya, but he dies heirless, so Vyasu fathers the royal sons, Pandu (pale) and Dhritarashtra (blind) because one princess turned pale, one closed her eyes when they saw the repulsive Vyasa.
Pandu accidentally kills a rishi + wife, and can not father children.
Instead, his sons, the 5 Pandavas, are all fathered by Gods. DHRITARASHTRA’S 100 sons are fathered by demons.
The cousins are rivals. The Pandavas are sent into exile. Dhritarashta divided kingdom. Pandavas lose all to Duryodhana (common wife!) and go into 12 years exile + one in city.
Kauravas refuse to return their half of the Kingdom; battle of 18 days. At end of epic, only Yudhisthira (oldest) and his faithful dog (dharma) reach paradise. Only the Kauravas could be seen! One final test! They were really in hell.