vedas

[un824 at FREENET.VICTORIA.BC.CA]

Namaste,

How do we know when the vedas are to be read literally and when they are to
be interpreted metaphorically?  Do we have a choice at all, or must the
vedas be accepted or rejected (in their totality) as being the *literal*
truth?  If the vedas are not *always* literally true then what criterion
enables us to know when the vedas are literally true and when they suggest
a merely "poetical" truth?  How could there be any other such criterion
when the vedas themselves are the touchstone we must use to assess all
other truth claims? Are we not forced to accept the vedas as being
*literally* true or abandon the claim the vedas are the touchstone which
can correctly assess all other truth claims?

I hope the orthodox list members can clear this up for me...

thanks,

-Allan Curry