tman_and_moksa

SR No.: 020053
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: G N Joshi
Publisher: Gujarat University
Publication Year: 1965
Total Pages: 901
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 12 MB

Page 43

Acharya Shri Kailashsagarsuri Gyanmandir
The Vedas
that maintains the regularity and order of the processes of the nature. It also maintains the moral order of the universe and remains at the heart of the reality. It testifies the natural tendency of the philosophic thought to pass from many to one, plurality to unity, separativeness to synthesis. As all the notable natural agencies were looked upon as gods, the concept of godhood being shared in common, it can be taken to be an advance towards pantheism instead of monotheism. Garbe says — “Old hymns of the RgVeda, which in other respects are still deeply rooted in the soil of polytheism, show already the inclination to comprehend multifarious phenomena, as a unity and may, therefore, be regarded as the first step in the path which led the old Indian people to pantheism."' Among the Vedic gods, Varuņa, the god of rains, wields a superior position. He is raised to the status of a sovereign over all others. He possesses every power to do and to undo things as he pleases. He is the supreme both in the physical and moral spheres. He possesses a crushing power over others. He could mercilessly suppress all other deities. Nicol Macnicol says—“Varuņa's ordinances are fixed and sure so that even the immortal gods cannot oppose them. He places his fetters upon the sinner; his is the power to bind and the power also to release and he forgives sins even unto the second generation."? Thus Varuna possesses absolute power over
i Garbe Richard : The Philosophy of Ancient India, p. 1. 2 Macnicol Nicol : Indian Theism, p. 14.
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