Revelations in Hinduismus according to Bede Griffiths

CHAPTER V

REVELATIONS IN HINDUISM ACCORDING TO BEDE GRIFFITHS

5.1 The Vedic Revelation

The term Veda came from the Sanskrit word ‘Vac’ meaning ‘Word’ which is the mediator between God and man. The most sacred utterance in the Veda is the Gayatri mantra.

"Om bhur bhuvvah savaha

Tat savitur varenyanm

Bhargo devasya dhimahi

Dhiyoyonah prachodayat

Om shanti, shanti, shanti."

The translation is, " Let us meditate on the glorious splendour of the divine light. May he illuminate our meditation."¹ This chant is preceded by one word ‘Om’ at the end, which means peace. The word Veda means ‘knowledge’. The Vedas are the sacred scripture of Hinduism. The Vedas are the written in Sanskrit. "Vedas means knowledge not simply human knowledge but knowledge that is given by God. The Vedas are called sruti from the root sr which means to hear."² So the Vedas are considered to be what has been heard.

The authors of the Vedas are called rishis. Hindus strongly believe that the scriptures are the revelations from God. The Hinduism has two words to describe the Vedas. The first, ‘nitya’ that is ‘eternal’. Secondly they are known as ‘apauruseya’ without human authorship. For Griffiths the Vedic revelation includes, " the whole of the Hindu scriptures and doctrine, as regards to man’s relationship with the world and God."³ There are main four Vedas in Hinduism.

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5.1.2.Ric-Veda

‘Ric’ means ‘hymns’. Ric-Veda forms the main part of the Vedas. They are mainly the hymns addressing gods. The Rig-Veda is the most ancient and dominant part of the Vedas.

5.1.2. Sama-Veda

Sama-Veda is mostly chanted during the sacrifice. The Vedic sets used Sama Veda for chanting, because of its musical setting.

5.1.3. Yajur-Veda

Yajur-Veda contains the ritual formulae of the sacrifice. It was written both in prose and verse in order to be used during sacrifice.

5.1.4. Atharva-Veda

Atharva-Veda mainly consists of Large extent of oracles and charms and magic spells. It has wonderful philosophical and theological doctrines. After the Veda they are the stages f development o in Vedic revelations.

5.1.5. The Brahmanas

The Brahmanas are the commentaries of the sacrifice. The sacrifice was considered to be the centre of the religions. The sacrifice had a mystical meaning and also a magical meaning. Brahman, according to the belief of the people, revealed the mystical meaning in the sacrifices.

5.1.6. The Arnyakas

The Brahmans are followed by the Aranyakas. The arayanaka means the

forest books. The Aranyaka remarks a great development in the history of the Hindu religion. During this time the seers retired to the forest to meditate. The developments

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of asceticism, self-control, disciple, etc…. were generated during this period.

5.1.7. The Upanishad

"The word Upanishad literally means ‘to sit near to’ which implies the disciples sitting at the feet of the master for discourses. According to Griffiths, the Upanishads are primarily intended to create and develop a mystical experience. They are the flowering of the mystical tradition rooted in the later Vedic literature. The Upanishads are called Vedanta, which means the end of the Vedas or its quintessence."⁴ Today Upanishads are the actual inspiration of all that is most authentic in Hinduism."⁵

5.2. THE COSMIC COVENANT IN HINDUISM ACCORDING TO BEDE GRIFFITHS

"In Hinduism the Supreme Reality is known as Brahman, The One Being, manifests himself in the Devas, the Gods, the powers which rule the creation."⁶ ‘The Devas literally means, the shining one’. These cosmic powers would manifest themselves in the whole creation. In Hinduism Brahman is the Supreme Reality. This Brahman regarded as the One Being. He manifests himself in the devas, the gods, the power which rule the creation.

5.2.1. Individualism in Hinduism according to Bede Griffiths

Hinduism is an individualistic. So every person goes to worship in his own way. He takes bath before worshiping his deity. Then, he prays to God, God who removes all the obstacles in the life. He also breaks a coconut. The

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outer nutshell of the coconut, which is hard, symbolizes the external self, the ego of the person. He breaks his ego. Inside the coconut is the pure white substance, the sweet milk, symbolizing the divine life within. Thus they remove all the obstacles from the mind and make it open to God.

"So going to the temple means leaving the outer world behind, going through a purification, uniting with all the powers of the cosmos, and finally entering into the inner shrine of the self where God dwells in the darkness. At that point one experiences union with God. It is a beautiful symbolism, a beautiful example of cosmic religion and cosmic worship."⁷

5.2.2. The Puja (worship) as the Cosmic Covenant

The typical rite during Vedic period was the fire sacrifice. When the new temple is dedicated, the Brahmin priests are invited from various parts of the country to perform this sacred ritual, which might take many days. It was a practice even in olden days also.

5.2.3. Sacred Food as a Cosmic Covenant

Food is sacred. A devout Hindu after putting the Plantain leaf takes some water in the hands and sprinkles it around the plantain leaf. He makes a sacred space and purify it. And also keep away all evil forces, which are around. "The Hindus are convinced that both good and evil forces surround us all the time and that we must be aware of the evil forces as well as of good. So you purify your food, and then offer it in sacrifice."⁸ Hindus believe that, the food we consume goes down to the stomach and the fire of the stomach consumes it.

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5.3. The Cosmic Mystery (Upanishads)

If we can understand the cosmic mystery of the Hinduism, we understand the very heart of the Hindu experience of God. We cannot understand the cosmic mystery of Hinduism with our mind. According to Griffiths, the mystery of the Upanishads we can understand only with our hearts. There are almost hundred and eight Upanishads. But actually there are only twelve classical Upanishads, which date from the sixth Century B.C. Of these there are two early ones. They are called the Brihadaranyaka and the Chandogya. Thus there is a whole series of short Upanishads, in Hinduism beginning with the Isa, followed by the Kena, the Katha, the Mandukya, the Mundaka, the Prasna and the Svetasvatara. The Svetasvatara Upanishad gives a description about the personal God.

Tat tavam asi

brings the deepest mystery of the Upanishads. This is one of the Mahavakyas, Great sayings of Upanishads. Another great sayings is Aham Brahmasmi, I am Brahman. This does not mean that I am Brahman. Another great saying of Upanishads, "Sarvam Khalvidam Brahma Asti. This entire world is Brahman. Everything is God. If we take these words literally it mighty sound like blasphemy but when we study the Upanishads deeply, we realize that they are seeking to express a mystical experience. According to Bede Griffith this means ‘I’ in the deepest centre, the ground of my being is one with that Brahman the source of all creation.

The cosmic mystery can be summarised according to Chandogya

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Upanishads is, "That self, which is free from old age, from death and grief, from hunger and thirst, which desires nothing but what it ought to desire and imagines nothing but what it is ought to imagine, it is that which we should search out; that which we must try to understand. He who reaches that self and understands it gains all the world of desires."⁹

Upanishads teaches that every person has an intuition within him/her, which is immortal. Upanishads teach the person to discover his immortal self. One wants to be free from sin, free from death, from hunger and thirst. The Upanishad assists every person in the search for this inner self of person, the Self, beyond body and beyond mind. For Hindus, It is avidya (ignorance) to think that the mind is supreme. What we have to discover is what lies beyond the mind. It is the hidden mystery, from which the mind and the whole creation come. That hidden mystery is called ‘turiya’ the fourth stage. You look out on the world around you and you find the hidden mystery Brahman.

When you say, "I am Brahman" "Aham Brahmasmi" what you are saying is that in the inner depths of your being, beyond your ego, beyond your conscious self, you are one with this inner spirit, which is also the spirit of the universe. In Christian terms you have discovered yourself in God. My true self is my self in God and God in me. I am not really myself until I have discovered this hidden centre of my being."¹⁰

Chandogya Upanishad says, " there is this city of Brahman, (That is the body ), and in this city there is a shrine, and in that shrine there is a small lotus,

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and in that lotus, there is a small space,(akasa),. Now what exists with that small space, that is to be sought, that is to be understood."¹¹

5.4. The Cosmic Revelation In Hindu Tradition According To Bede Griffiths

"Om purnamadah purnamidam

Purnatpurnam udachyate

Purnasya purnamadya

Purnam eva avashishyate

Om shanti shanti shanti

"That is full, this is full. From fullness, fullness proceeds. Removing fullness from fullness, fullness alone remains."¹²

This has a very deep meaning. Each person has his own particular way in the search of God. The starting point of the Hindu way of searching God is with the idea of transcendent God in the creation. "The three words which express this mystery are- Brahman, Atman, and Purusha. Brahman is the word for the

inexpressible mystery of Being, of life, of reality, which is manifested in the creation. Atman, which is best, translated ‘Spirit’ is the manifestation of this inexpressible mystery in the heart of man. And finally, Purusha which is called the Person."¹³

According to Griffiths, the Hindu tradition belongs to the Cosmic Covenant: it forms part of the revelation made to all people before there was any special revelation to Israel. He sees the Vedic revelation as a cosmic vision embracing world, man and God, which seeks to arrive at a unifying experience of no-duality. Thus, Hinduism, in the opinion of Grifiths, is a cosmic religion, which is based fundamentally on the experience of God in creation and the

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experience of God in human hearts. Griffiths further adds that this experience of God in creation as well as in the heart is an authentic revelation, an authentic presence.

Griffiths says;

All these religions derive from the cosmic covenant, the universal revelation given to all mankind. It is a revelation of God through nature and the

soul. The whole cosmos is a revelation of God…This ancient wisdom is enshrined in Hindu temples. The temple is the image both of the cosmos and of the soul. To go around a temple visiting the shrines of the different gods is to bring the soul into harmony with the powers of the cosmos and to discover the ‘centre’ both of the cosmos and the soul…. The ritual of the temple is… an external sign of the inner transformation of the soul, the discovery of the divine life hidden in the soul.¹⁴

Griffith elaborates how the cosmos came to be understood in relation to the ultimate Reality. Man from the beginning onwards recognized the hidden power behind the nature and consciousness. Gradually with the development of his consciousness and power of discrimination, man began to distinguish the powers of nature, the powers of the ‘gods’ from his own powers of speech and action, and of thinking and feeling, thus recognizing his nature as a conscious being.

Though man began to distinguish between the powers of nature and his own powers, the gods occupied his mind and heart, and through myths, rituals, prayers and sacrifices he could experience his oneness with the whole creation. Griffiths is of the opinion that it is precisely this sense of unity, which is manifested, in the Vedic revelation. This cosmic unity in the Upanishads receives an identity when the Vedic seers called it as Brahman and Atman.

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Gradually, through meditation their nature was revealed.

Griffiths says:

It is known not by argument of reasoning, not by any activity of the senses or the rational mind, but by an immediate experience of the spirit, the Atman, in man. It is this experience of the spirit which the Upanishads seek to communicate and to interpret in words…. It is known as Saccidananda, Being or Reality, experienced in pure consciousness, communicating perfect bliss. But such a state of conscious. It is misleading to speak to Brahman or Atman as ‘impersonal."¹⁵

Brahman Atman and Purusha are the three words employed to describe the ultimate Reality. They indicate with extraordinary power and precision the nature of that ultimate Reality to which they bear witness, and only an awakening of intuitive insight can take us beyond the words to the truth, which they signify. Griffiths asserts that "Verily, in the beginning this was Brahman, One only. This means that Brahman is the source and Ground of the whole creation-Ekam eva advitya, One only without second. Second in the beginning this was the Atman, the Spirit, alone in the form of Purusha, a Person, through these three words the Hindus began to understand the mystery of the cosmos. Griffiths explains; first of all looking around on the world he discovered Brahman as the ground of all being; then he discovered the Atman, the Self, as the ground of all consciousness; and then he rose to the conception of the Purusha and saw how Brahma, Atman, and Purusha, the personal God are all one.¹⁶

5.4.1. Brahman

Griffiths explains that the word Brahman derives from the root. ‘Brah ’

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which meant ‘to grow or to swell. This meant the awareness of God. The word Brahman became a mantra or a prayer that brings awareness in the heart and opens it to the divine, a mystery beyond. Every man is searching for this mystery, which has no name and form.

There are two approaches in knowing the nature of Brahman. The positive approach affirms something of the divine Reality, for example, that Brahman is creator, sustainer. The second approach is negative: neti neti (not this, not that) In the Veda it was understood that everything came down from the divine and in the same manner it had to return to God. This return to God was considered a sacrifice that is making a thing sacred, since the sacrifice was considered to be the source of life for the whole creation; the whole creation was understood to depend on sacrifice. This Brahman was considered as the power that sustained the sacrifice and the whole universe. The whole universe comes from Brahman. He is the source of everything and yet no change occurs in him. Brahman is the principle of all being. Brahman pervades the whole universe and yet he is totally transcendent. The world of gods, the sky and the earth is all woven on Brahman. What then is the ultimate experience of Brahmavidya?

Griffiths explains:

"You only know Brahman/Atman when you experience them as Saccidananda…Being, is experience as pure consciousness (Sat), that Brahman, is experienced as pure consciousness (Cit) then you have an

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experience of Ananda, of, absolute bliss. Then you know God. Then you have reached the goal."¹⁷ "Brahman is the word or the inexpressible mystery of Being of life, of realty which is manifested in the creation." ¹⁸ "This world without Brahman is pure illusion. It is nothing. But this world, in Brahman has relative reality."¹⁹ This Brahman, the power of God, is hidden in all creation, but at the same it envelops them. It is both immanent and transcendent. It is also the Lord, the personal God.

5.4.2. Atman

Griffiths points out that the seers of the Upanishads discovered in meditation, that this Brahman, this power that sustained the universe, is within each person. This power-Brahman-when experienced in the innermost recesses of the human heart, is known as Atman. "That self is hidden in all the beings and does not shine forth, but it is seen by subtle seers though they’re sharp and subtle intellect. It is the ground of all consciousness, of knowing, of all personal being."²⁰

Mahavakyas of the Upanishads express the relationship between Brahman and Atman. Brahman is called conscious. "Now instead, Brahman came to be understood as one’s own inner consciousness: Ayam atman Brahm asti" (that self is Brahman). It meant that atman was one with Brahman, one with the Reality of the universe outside oneself. The next saying, aham brahma asmi (I am Brahman) meant that when one goes beyond one’s body, thoughts, and feeling. One discovers that this ‘I’ the atman, is Brahman himself, as one’s

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true being. The last mahavakya, tat tvam asi (thou art that) meant that the source of the universe around us is the source of our own being. Thus the Atman, the self is beyond the body and the soul. It dwells in the heart of every creature. It is one’s real life. And this is the relation between the spirit of man (jivatman) and the spirit of God (paramatman).

5.4.3. Purusha

Purusha is another term equivalent to Brahman. Griffiths explains how the concept of Purusha grows in Vedas and Upanishad. It is significant to Hindus because it expresses the personal aspect of the Godhead. Griffiths renders Purusha as man the cosmic man or the cosmic person. The belief is that the Purusha contained the whole creation in him and also transcended it. He had a thousand heads, a thousand eyes, and a thousand feet. He pervades the earth on every sides. This signifies that this cosmic person is present in everyone and everywhere. We are the small Purusha and there is the great on who embraces everything.

Purusha is considered as the cosmic person, the unifying principle of the whole universe, and the belief is that the whole of creation is said to have come from the sacrifice of Purusha. "It is said that at the beginning of tie Purusha was sacrificed and his limbs were scattered over the world. When the ritual sacrifice is performed, Purusha is gathered together and becomes the unifies whole again."²¹

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5.5. Bhagavad-Gita

Bhagavad-Gita is known as the Song of the Lord. The Bhagavad-Gita belongs to the epic period. The Bhavad-Gita describes about the devotion to a personal God-a Bhagavan-a Lord. It represents a new spirituality and is a decisive moment in the history of India and of Indian spirituality. No one knows exactly how it came into being. It is one of those spontaneous movements of the spirit. "The speciality of Bhagavad-Gita is that it draws on the Vedic tradition and the Upanishads; it draws on the Jain and Buddhist tradition; it draws on the Samkhya and the Yoga traditions; and it draws on the doctrine of Karma."²²

Bhagavad-Gita is therefore a kind of compendium of Indian wisdom. It is a very small book of eighteen chapters, and not difficult to read. The Gita is part of the epic poem, the Mahabharata, which is the longest poem in the world. It tells the story of the Pandyas and the Kauravas."The Bhagavad-Gita was inserted into the poem of the Mahabharata at a point where the two armies were about to join the battle, and Arjuna, one of the heroes of the Pandyas, was seated in his chariot, facing the army. He feels he cannot fight the battle. He sees opposite to him the Kauravas, who are his own relation and friends: he sees his Guru, his teacher, and his grandfather. So he lays down his arms in despair this has been understood as a symbol of man face with the battle of life. "It is a sense of summary of Hindu doctrine because it comes at a crucial moment, when several currents of thought, beginning with the Vedas, all come

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together, so that it is a kind of synthesis of doctrine, which gives it its universal character. In a real sense, it can be said that if one knows the Gita, one knows the essence of Hindu spirituality."²³ In the Vedic understanding of God, of the absolute reality, there are three main concepts: Brahman, Atman, and Purusha. Brahman is the principle of being, the source of the universe, and the immanent presence in the whole creation. Atman is the principle of consciousness, the inner consciousness, the Self within every human being; and Purusha is the person, the Lord who is the object of worship.

"Bhagavad-Gita or the song of the Lord is a spiritual classic, which though it comes from the Hindu tradition, belongs not only to Hindu but also to the entire world. It is part of the spiritual inheritance of the mankind."²⁴ The Bhagavad-Gita belongs to the epic period. It was inserted into the great epic, the Mahabharata, about 300-200 .B. C.

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END NOTES

1.Griffiths Bede, The Cosmic Revelation (Banglore: Asian Trading Corporation, 150 Brigade Road, 1985) P.8.

2. Ibid.,P.9.

3. Fernandes Albano, The Hindu Mystical Experience (New Delhi: Intercultural Publications, 2004) P.139.

4. Ibid.,P140.

5. Griffiths Bede, The Cosmic Revelation, P.11.

6. Ibid., P.35.

7. Ibid., P.37.

8. Ibid., P.41.

9. Ibid., P.57.

10. Ibid., P. 59.

11. Ibid., P. 60.

12. Ibid., P.68.

13. Ibid., P. 68.

14. Fernandes Albano, The Hindu Mystical Experience , P.142.

15. Ibid., P.143.

16. Ibid.,P. 144.

17. Ibid.,P.,148.

18. Griffiths Bede, The Cosmic Revelation P.68.

19. Ibid.,P.72.

20. Fernandes Albano, The Hindu Mystical Experience P.146.

21. Ibid., P.147.

22. Griffiths Bede, The Cosmic Revelation P.89.

23. Griffiths Bede, River of Compassion (New York: Published by Amity House Inc.1987), P.2.

24. Ibid., P.1.