Chips from a German Workshop, Volume 1. Friedrich Max Müller
the king. His spies proceed from heaven towards this world; with thousand eyes they overlook this earth.
5. King Varuna sees all this, what is between heaven and earth, and what is beyond. He has counted the twinklings of the eyes of men. As a player throws the dice, he settles all things.
6. May all thy fatal nooses, which stand spread out seven by seven and threefold, catch the man who tells a lie, may they pass by him who tells the truth.
Another idea which we find in the Veda is that of faith: not only in the sense of trust in the gods, in their power, their protection, their kindness, but in that of belief in their existence. The Latin word credo, I believe, is the same as the Sanskrit sraddhâ, and this sraddhâ occurs in the Veda:
Rv. I. 102, 2. 'Sun and moon go on in regular succession, that we may see, Indra, and believe.'
Rv. I. 104, 6. 'Destroy not our future offspring, O Indra, for we have believed in thy great power.'
Rv. I. 55, 5. 'When Indra hurls again and again his thunderbolt, then they believe in the brilliant god.'27
A similar sentiment, namely, that men only believe in the gods when they see their signs and wonders in the sky, is expressed by another poet (Rv. VIII. 21, 14):
'Thou, Indra, never findest a rich man to be thy friend; wine-swillers despise thee. But when thou thunderest, when thou gatherest (the clouds), then thou art called, like a father.'
And with this belief in god, there is also coupled that doubt, that true scepticism, if we may so call it, which is meant to give to faith its real strength. We find passages even in these early hymns where the poet asks himself, whether there is really such a god as Indra,—a question immediately succeeded by an answer, as if given to the poet by Indra himself. Thus we read Rv. VIII. 89, 3:
'If you wish for strength, offer to Indra a hymn of praise: a true hymn, if Indra truly exist; for some one says, Indra does not exist! Who has seen him? Whom shall we praise?'
Then Indra answers through the poet:
'Here I am, O worshipper, behold me here! in might I surpass all things.'
Similar visions occur elsewhere, where the poet, after inviting a god to a sacrifice, or imploring his pardon for his offences, suddenly exclaims that he has seen the god, and that he feels that his prayer is granted. For instance:
1. However we break thy laws from day to day, men as we are, O god, Varuna,
2. Do not deliver us unto death, nor to the blow of the furious; nor to the wrath of the spiteful!
3. To propitiate thee, O Varuna, we unbend thy mind with songs, as the charioteer a weary steed.
4. Away from me they flee dispirited, intent only on gaining wealth; as birds to their nests.
5. When shall we bring hither the man, who is victory to the warriors; when shall we bring Varuna, the wide-seeing, to be propitiated?
[6. This they (Mitra and Varuna) take in common; gracious, they never fail the faithful giver.]
7. He who knows the place of the birds that fly through the sky, who on the waters knows the ships;—
8. He, the upholder of order, who knows the twelve months with the offspring of each, and knows the month that is engendered afterwards;—
9. He who knows the track of the wind, of the wide, the bright, the mighty; and knows those who reside on high;—
10. He, the upholder of order, Varuna, sits down among his people; he, the wise, sits there to govern.
11. From thence perceiving all wondrous things, he sees what has been and what will be done.
12. May he, the wise Âditya, make our paths straight all our days; may he prolong our lives!
13. Varuna, wearing golden mail, has put on his shining cloak; the spies sat down around him.
14. The god whom the scoffers do not provoke, nor the tormentors of men, nor the plotters of mischief;—
15. He, who gives to men glory, and not half glory, who gives it even to our own selves;—
16. Yearning for him, the far-seeing, my thoughts move onwards, as kine move to their pastures.
17. Let us speak together again, because my honey has been brought: that thou mayst eat what thou likest, like a friend.
18. Did I see the god who is to be seen by all, did I see the chariot above the earth? He must have accepted my prayers.
19. O hear this my calling, Varuna, be gracious now; longing for help, I have called upon thee.
20. Thou, O wise god, art lord of all, of heaven and earth: listen on thy way.
21. That I may live, take from me the upper rope, loose the middle, and remove the lowest!
In conclusion, let me tell you that there is in the Veda no trace of metempsychosis or that transmigration of souls from human to animal bodies which is generally supposed to be a distinguishing feature of Indian religion. Instead of this, we find what is really the sine quâ non of all real religion, a belief in immortality, and in personal immortality. Without a belief in personal immortality, religion surely is like an arch resting on one pillar, like a bridge ending in an abyss. We cannot wonder at the great difficulties felt and expressed by bishop Warburton and other eminent divines, with regard to the supposed total absence of the doctrine of immortality or personal immortality in the Old Testament; and it is equally startling that the Sadducees who sat in the same council with the high-priest, openly denied the resurrection.28 However, though not expressly asserted anywhere, a belief in personal immortality is taken for granted in several passages of the Old Testament, and we can hardly think of Abraham or Moses as without a belief in life and immortality. But while this difficulty, so keenly felt with regard to the Jewish religion, ought to make us careful in the judgments which we form of other religions, and teach us the wisdom of charitable interpretation, it is all the more important to mark that in the Veda passages occur where immortality of the soul, personal immortality and personal responsibility after death, are clearly proclaimed. Thus we read:
'He who gives alms goes to the highest place in heaven; he goes to the gods' (Rv. I. 125, 56).
Another poet, after rebuking those who are rich and do not communicate, says:
'The kind mortal is greater than the great in heaven!'
Even the idea, so frequent in the later literature of the Brahmans, that immortality is secured by a son, seems implied, unless our translation deceives us, in one passage of the Veda (VII. 56, 24): 'Asmé (íti) virah marutah sushmî astu gánânâm yáh ásurah vi dhartâ, apáh yéna su-kshitáye tárema, ádha svám ókah abhí vah syáma.' 'O Maruts, may there be to us a strong son, who is a living ruler of men: through whom we may cross the waters on our way to the happy abode; then may we come to your own house!'
One poet prays that he may see again his father and mother after death (Rv. I. 24, 1); and the fathers (Pitris) are invoked almost like gods, oblations are offered to them, and they are believed to enjoy, in company with the gods, a life of never ending felicity (Rv. X. 15, 16).
We find this prayer addressed to Soma (Rv. IX. 113, 7):
'Where there is eternal light, in the world where the sun is placed, in that immortal imperishable world place me, O Soma!'
'Where king Vaivasvata reigns, where the secret place of heaven is, where these mighty waters are, there make me immortal!
'Where life is free, in the third heaven of heavens, where the worlds are radiant, there make me immortal!'
'Where wishes and desires are, where the place of the bright sun is, where there is freedom and delight, there make me immortal!
'Where there is happiness and delight, where joy and pleasure
During violent thunderstorms the natives of New Holland are so afraid of War-ru-gu-ra, the evil spirit, that they seek shelter even in caves haunted by Ingnas, subordinate demons, which at other times they would enter on no account. There, in silent terror, they prostrate themselves with their faces to the ground, waiting until the spirit, having expended his fury, shall retire to Uta (hell) without having discovered their hiding-place.—'Transactions of Ethnological Society,' vol. iii. p. 229. Oldfield, 'The Aborigines of Australia.'
Acts xxii. 30, xxiii. 6.