[Advaita-l] Who Is the Ultimate GOD in Vedic dharma ?

[Sujal Upadhyay]

Namaste,

I am also not an expert on veda-s, hence taking view of any authority,
Kanchi Paramacharya (Guru of current Shankaracharya of Kanchi Matha).

Please find quote below

/quote/
A gentleman told me his view of the Vedas based on his reading of the first
and last hymns: "The chief point about the Vedas is fire worship (Agni
upasana). In the upakrama there is 'Agnimile' and in the upasamhara also
there is a hymn to Agni. Both the beginning and the end being so, the
purpose of the Vedas (their 'gist') is fire worship". Agni is the light of
the Atman, the light of the jnana. The light of jnana is nothing but the
spirit of the Self which is the knower, the known and the knowledge:this is
the ultimate message of the Vedas.

However, to understand the hymns in question in a literal sense and claim
that the Vedas mean fire worship is not correct. The greatness of our
scripture consists in the fact that it does not glorify one deity alone.
The Vedas proclaim that the Atman, the Self, must be worshipped, the Atman
that denotes all the deities(Brahadranyaka Upanishad), 4. 5. 6 : "Verily, O
Maitreyi, it is the Self that should be perceived, that should be seen,
heard and reflected upon. It is the Self that must be known. When the Self
is known everything is known". This truth that the Yagnavalkya teaches his
wife Maitreyi is the goal of the Vedas.

//unquote//

Source: http://www.kamakoti.org/hindudharma/part5/chap34.htm

/quote/

The Rgveda, that is its Samhita, has 10, 170 rks and 1, 028 suktas. It is
divided into ten mandalas or eight astakas. It begins with a sukta to Agni
and concludes with asukta to the same deity. For this reason some believe
that the Vedas must be described as the scripture of fire worship, a view
with which we would be in agreement if Agni were believed to be the light
of the Atman (the light of knowledge of the Reality). The concluding sukta
of the Rgveda contains a hymn that should be regarded as having a higher
significance than the national anthem of any country: it is a prayer for
amity among all nations, a true international anthem. "May mankind be of
one mind, " it goes. "May it have a common goal. May all hearts be united
in love. And with the mind and the goal being one may all of us live in
happiness. "

//unquote//

Source: http://www.kamakoti.org/hindudharma/part5/chap27.htm

Agni is the only deity which can be go in any direction and take the
oblations to any loka, hence agni is a carrier. Some also say that agni is
the first expansion of rudra or that rudra is represented by agni.



OM

Sujal


On Wed, Jan 17, 2018 at 8:18 PM, Ryan Armstrong via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> Namaste
>
> I have not read the Rig Veda completely, but commentaries state that Agni
> has a pre-eminent role.
> So is Agni also to be considered as the ultimate god?
>
> Yours in Truth
> Ryan
>
> On 17 January 2018 at 15:19, Venkateswaran N E via Advaita-l <
> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>
> > Namaste,
> >
>