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The Religion of the Veda

Atharva-Veda it even shows signs of at least temporary going to seed.[1] We cannot expect the family-books of the Rig-Veda, or the ninth, soma book to break out in theosophy. These books are collections of hymns addressed to the gods at a definite sacrifice: to that business they attend. It does not follow that what they do not mention does not exist at that time. We must beware of too straight-lined a view of these matters, one type following another like a row of bricks, or like different troops of the same army. I am not wise enough to say when the following stanza was pronounced: "They call (it) Indra, Mitra, Varuna, and Agni, or the heavenly bird Garutmant (the Sun). The sages call the One Being in many ways; they call it Agni, Yama, Mātariçvan."

This verse states that the great gods of the Veda are but One Being; therefore it at once takes a high stand in the range of possible human thought. And yet it occurs in a hymn of the Rig-Veda, namely, the famous riddle-hymn of Dīrghatamas, in the first book of that collection.[2] Another statement in the tenth book[3] is as follows: "That One breathed

  1. ↑ Some stanzas of the Atharvan occupy the most advanced position of the Upanishads. For instance, 10. 8. 44: "Free from desire, true, eternal, self-begotten, full of joy, subject to none, he no longer fears death who knows the wise, ageless Ātman."
  2. ↑ Rig-Veda I. 164. 46.
  3. ↑ Rig-Veda 10. 129. 2.
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