VEDA AND VEDISM

Veda is the general term for the ancient sacred literature of India. The oldest and most important work is the Rig Veda, which contains about 1000 hymns or religious lyrics dedicated to the greater gods of the Vedic pantheon, extolling their deeds and imploring them to come to the sacrifice. The hymns are divided into ten books, and were probably composed between 2000 and 1000 B.C. The Sama Veda is a collection of the words to be used at the soma sacrifice. ‘The Vedic literature was the written expre ion of Vedism or the revelation of the self existent Being by means of the Rishis. UP AN IS HAD, a system of Brahmanic philosophy which in its main features carries on the speculations of the older Up an is hads; (e.g.) God is the sole real existence. He is both Creator and Nature, and all things are resolved in Him; the individual soul proceeds from Him and ultimately returns to Him; it is nota free agent, but is ruled by God, and its sufferings depend upon its bodily organs. ‘These are the main features, but later Vedantists established other tained that the material world had no real existence, and Madhva-acharya claimed that the supreme spirit was distinct from man and matter,