Thus Spake the Divine - Religion without a Name

Thus Spake the Divine

Vedic Religion

Religion without a Name

In the first and second chapter of this part, Poojyasri Maha Periyava draws evidence and references from various sources, some of them from around 4,000 years ago. He further points to archaeological excavations and inscriptions available in different parts of the world to establish the fact that our Vedic Religion was the one that originally prevailed all across the world.

What we call as Hindu religion today was not called so earlier. There is no word called “Hindu religion” in any of our ancient chronicles. It is Westerners who titled us as Hindus. They had to pass through River Sind to enter our country Bharat. That is why they called River Sind as Indu, the adjacent country as India and its religion as Hindu.

Then, how should we address our religion? We can call it Vedic Religion or Sanatana Dharma. Are they the actual names of our religion? No. If we look at the sources of our records, there is no name mentioned for our religion. I felt so sad and was also a little upset about this. Okay. Let it be.

One day, someone in the Mutt said, “Ramu has come”. Lost in thoughts, I asked “Which Ramu?” There was a counter question, “Are there many Ramus here?” Only then did I realise that I had asked the question while immersed in old memories. In my place at that time, there were four persons with the name Ramu. To differentiate among them, we identified them as “Black Ramu”, “Red Ramu”, “Tall Ramu” and “Short Ramu”. With the same thought even in a place, where only one Ramu resides, I had asked “Which Ramu?”

When there is only one Ramu, there is no need for any nickname, isn’t it? Instantly, I realised why there was no name to our religion. Had there been several religions in our country, there would have been a name for each religion. When there was only one religion, then, what was the necessity for giving a name to it?

Except our religion, all other religions have emerged from names of their respective Masters. Prior to the existence of that great leader, that religion did not exist at all. Buddhism, founded by Lord Buddha, was not existent prior to his birth. Jainism was founded by Mahaveer. Similarly, Christianity was founded by Jesus Christ. Once it is recognised that a religion was founded by its respective Master, it means that it did not exist before. Our religion was flourishing even before the emergence of all these religions. This religion alone was pervading across the world. After realising this, I was relieved of my sad thought that there was no name for our religion. Along with that emerged the honour for this religion.

Once we consider that ours is the oldest religion existing since times immemorial, a question arises as to who founded this religion. Howsoever deeply researched, no name was found identifying the founder of this religion. We can point to Vyasa Muni, who composed the Brahma Sutra, or Lord Krishna, who gave Bhagavad Gita, as the founder of this religion. But Vyasa Muni or Lord Krishna only quoted our religion from Vedas, which existed even before.

Okay, we can then point at Rishis, who developed Veda Mantras, as founders of our religion. Even they would not agree. If we reason that “These mantras given to us are after your names”, they would answer, “Yes, it is true that these mantras descended to this earth only through us. That is why we are called as Mantra Rishis. But we did not compose these mantras. When we were meditating to control our minds, these mantras appeared before us from the sky. We are only the witnesses of these mantras (Mantra Dhrashta) and not composers of the mantras (Mantra Karta)”. All sounds emanate only from the sky. Rishis could see sounds of the mantras from the sky with the power of their penance. These mantras were the breath of the Paramatma, which the Rishis identified and gave them to the world.

If we are able to understand this, then we will not have to feel sad that we could not identify the founder of our religion. It will become a matter of pride for us to know that it is the Paramatma’s Breath that transcended on us as Vedas and we have the honour of being the heirs who have continued adhering to these ancient mantras and codes of our religion.

This article is a snippet from the Book Thus Spake the Divine, is available online at www.giri.in and across Giri Trading Agency Private Limited, A chain of Speciality Stores dealing in all kinds of products needed in Indian Culture and Tradition.

GIRI is Also the Humble Recipient of "The BEST TOURIST FRIENDLY SHOPPING CENTER in Tamil Nadu" Award For The Year 2019.