Sunday - March 25, 2007

Q&A: Truth is One?

Question: There is a question I have been posing to various sadhus and pundits recently. I wonder if you might care to address it. It concerns “Ekam sad vipra bahudha vadantikam Sat...” Why is it said that the “wise” call the same truth by different names? Why are the wise singled out in this regard? Don’t regular people call it by different names, too? I’m sorry if the question sounds too elementary, but this is such a basic tenet of the perennial philosophy that I don’t want to simply pretend to understand just because it’s elementary.

Answer: The words you quote come from the sixty-fourth verse of the one hundred and sixty-fourth hymn of the first section of the Rig Veda (Rig Veda 1.164.46). There is really no problem at all in discerning its meaning provided it is translated honestly and completely.

First the honest translation. “The Real/True [Sat] is One [ekam]. The twice-born [vipra] call It [vadanti] variously [bahudha].”

In modern times “vipra” is usually applied to the Brahmins–those who have been invested with the yajnopavita (sacred thread) and initiated into the Gayatri mantra. (In earlier times the Kshatriyas and Vaishyas also did this.) Of course it has a higher meaning: one who has been “born” into the consciousness of Spirit as well as physcially. Each of us has to decide which (or both) is meant in the Vedic text.

Second, the complete translation: “The Real/True [Sat] is One [ekam]. The twice-born [vipra] call It [vadanti] variously [bahudha]: Agni, Yama, Matarisvan, Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Garutman.”

There you have it. The illumined sages of India have called the One Reality, the Ekam Evam Advityam Brahman, by the many names found in the Veda. Even though many names are used, the Reality spoken about in the Vedas is one. There is not a thought of “other” religions. The question of their validity or invalidity just does not come into this matter.

Certainly there are parts of the Gita that affirm the validity of the various paths by which human beings seek God. But to quote these Vedic words in support of that view is simply indefensible. Satyam Eva Jayate!

Swami Nirmalananda Giri