Vedic influence in Rome

There are many similarities between the Mithraic cult and the Vedic religion. The God Mithras is of Vedic origin. He is a solar deity. Mithras is associated with Agni, the God of fire in the Vedic religion. Fire is said to be contained inside rocks and the Roman description of the birth of Mithras from rock agrees with this Vedic account. The followers of the Mithraic mysteries worshiped Leontocephaline as the supreme God. Leontocephaline is depicted as a half-man, half-lion form. He has the face of a lion and the body of a man. He is entwined by a serpent and the serpent’s head rests on top of the lion’s head.  I saw a picture of the Leontocephaline on Wikipedia and the image looked very similar to Lord Narasimha who has a lion’s head and a man’s body. The serpent around the Leontocephaline is similar to Adi Sesha. There are many images which show Lord Narasimha sitting under the hood of Adi Sesha.Lord Narasimha appeared from a pillar. The appearance of Lord Narasimha from a pillar is also similar in concept to Mithras appearing from a rock.

The colour image is a picture of Lord Narasimha.

The black and white image is from http://www.carnaval.com/mithras/ and is an image of  Leontocephaline

Vedic influence in Rome

The Romans practiced a utilitarian worship. They did not worship the deities out of love. Their worship was targeted towards obtaining some form of material wealth from the deities. Their religion hence has materialistic and ritualistic attitudes. Their supreme God is called Jupiter Optimus Maximus. The name Jupiter is derived from Sanskrit words Djaus-pitar or Diu-pitar which mean “father of heaven” and “father of light”. They worship Janus before beginning anything. The word Janus is derived from the Sanskrit word Jan to be born. The Romans also believed in the Stoic Doctrine. The Stoics were philosophers who said that all souls are part of God and that God dwells in all souls. The Romans worshiped goddess Cybele who was often represented as driving chariots drawn by lions. They considered her to be a “Mother Goddess” and associated her with mountains. Goddess Cybele is identical to goddess Parvati who is said to be the daughter of mountain Himavan. She is worshiped as a “Mother Goddess” and is often shown to ride on lions. The followers of the Cybele cult were philosophers who said that everything ceases after death and there is no joy or sorrow after death. The Cybele philosophy can be shown to have been derived from the Caravaka philosophy. The Caravaka philosophy despite having a Vedic origin incorporates various forms of philosophical skepticism.The philosophy preaches materialism. The Caravakas did not believe in afterlife. They believed that after death intelligence was destroyed and nothing remains. The Roman poet Horace believed that life should be enjoyed to the full extent as after death there would be nothing.

Vedic influence in Rome Sautramani Sacrifice

 Sautramani sacrifice continued.

Regarding the boar sacrifice it is said that Vishnu turned himself into a boar and stole the food of Indra. The boar was pursued by Indra and was shot by him. Indra is once again the Sun. The Orion Sacrifice is the boar referred to in this verse. In winter Orion moves away from the sun and this is shown as the boar running away. Indra pursues the boar throughout the year and at conjunction shoots the boar. Indra as the Sun is seen as the creator of all summer life forms. Vishnu is the sacrifice as well as the sacrificer; the sacrificer is Indra . In order for the summer creation to take place, the boar is shot by Indra i.e Vishnu sacrifices himself for the sake of creation.

This is the esoteric meaning of the Soma sacrifice and of the Sautramani sacrifice. The Asvins performed the Sautramani ritual to cure Indra from the effects of drinking too much Soma. The Asvins show through the sacrifice the self-sacrifice made by the Supreme Brahman. We are urged to do a self-sacrifice as well in which we offer our self as oblation to the Supreme Brahman. The Sautramani ritual would also indicate the yearly circuit of the Sun which would release the moon during winter as it moves away from the conjunction.
The Romans took the literal meaning of the sacrifice and performed the suovetaurilia sacrifice in which they sacrificed a pig, a ram and a bull.

Vedic influence in Rome Sautramani Sacrifice

 Sautramani sacrifice continued.

Prajapati who is synonymous with the creator became the ram and offered his omentum in the fire. This is the sacrifice of the ram. This teaches us pranayama. When pranayama is done properly, our omentum will fall into the stomach cavity which is the fire. Esoterically, Prajapati sacrificed himself to enter into every created being. The sacrifice of the Ram is symbolic. Actual ram is not sacrificed. The ritual is performed by substituting plant matter for a ram. The ritual is performed to make the sacrifice understand the self-sacrifice performed by Prajapati.

The Mount Meru is said to have three peaks which is a reference to the belt stars of Orion. Mount Meru is also called as Vrishaba or bull. When the sun Indra is at conjunction with the belt stars, he sees the belt as obstruction. The belts stars on new moon day offer their light to the Sun and bow down. This is the self sacrifice of the belt stars also known as the bull. Indra is also said to kill the bull which would again occur when the sun is in conjunction with the belt stars.

To be continued.

Vedic influence in Rome Sacrifice of a ram

 Sautramani sacrifice contd.

In another myth the Devas gathered together at Kurukshetra to perform a sacrifice.  They wanted to attain fame, prosperity and eat food. They said that whoever amongst them through toil, austerity or faith comprehends the issue of sacrifice will become the most eminent amongst them. This was attained by Vishnu. He stood with his bow resting his head on the bow. Indra turned himself into white ants and chewed the bow string which broke-off from the bow and cut off Vishnu’s head. Vishnu’s head became the Sun Adithya. The bow is the word “om”. The white ants refer to the atman and the colour white refers to knowledge or knowledge about Brahman. Using the syllable “ Om ”, the atman should turn into an arrow and aim for the supreme Brahman which is referred to as the head of Vishnu in this myth.  The colour white is also a reference to the moon or Soma. Vishnu is also said in other myths to have become a ram and Indra cuts off the ram’s head.

The esoteric meaning of the Soma Sacrifice imparts to us the knowledge to reach Supreme Brahman. The sacrifice of the three animals mentioned reaffirms the Soma Sacrifice and also tells us about the Self-Sacrifice made by the Supreme Brahman to create us.

To be continued.

Vedic influence in Rome Sautramani Soma Sacrifice

Sautramani ritual contd.

In another myth, Indra cuts off the head of Rishi Dadhichi because the rishi imparted the knowledge about Soma juice to the Aswins. The Aswins are associated with dawn and once again the soma juice refers to the moon’s sacrifice when it is seen to give up its light to the morning Sun. The cutting of the Rishi’s head is a reference to Orion sacrifice. The soma juice or the “honey” obtained by the Aswins is the knowledge of the self or atman sacrificing itself as oblation to the Supreme Self. Indra is said to have fashioned himself the vajra weapon from the bones of Dadhichi. The bones of Dadhichi refer to the belt stars of Orion. Indra is said to have killed Vrita with this weapon. This refers to the Sun as Indra killing the darkness of winter when he comes in conjunction with the belt stars.

To be continued tomorrow.

Vedic influence in Rome Sautramani Sacrifice

The suovetaurilia was one of the most sacred and traditional rites of Roman religion: the sacrifice of a pig (sus), a sheep (ovis) and a bull (taurus) to the deity Mars to bless and purify land .  It has been said to be derived from the Sautramani yagna.

Sautramani-yajna - a particular sacrifice in honor of Indra which is described in the Yajur Veda. It is said that by performing this yajna, one obtains a place in the heavenly planets.This yagna is also said to be associated with drinking of wine (soma) by the Brahmanas. Soma is not wine, it has a different esoteric meaning.

The Sautramani sacrifice is associated with the Pravagya rite and is one of the many soma sacrifices. Three animals a ram, bull and a boar are sacrificed during the Sautramani ceremony. The sacrifice is symbolic and actual animals are not killed. The origin of the Sautramani sacrifice is told in the story about the birth of Indra. Indra is born to Tvastar; his mother is Saraswati. The entire rite is performed to relieve Indra from the effects of drinking too much Soma. Indra cuts of the head of Tvastar to get control over soma.  Tvastar is the Sun (Tvastar means fashioner or creator and refers to the Sun during summer time), Saraswati is dawn (She is also known as Vak and is the consort of creator Brahma). Indra who is referred to as the son of Tvastar and Saraswati is the summer rays of the Sun. To get control of Soma, he cuts of the head of Tvastar. This can be seen as the Orion-Sacrifice when the Sun is in conjunction. The head of Tvastar can be compared to the head of Orion or Mrigasiras. The belt stars are the home to the moon called as Soma. At dawn, Soma merges in the light of the young rays of Sun as if he is giving himself to the young Sun Indra who is said to drink too much Soma juice. The whole myth revolves around the Self-Sacrifice made by the moon. 

More on Sautramani ritual to be continued tomorrow.

Vedic influence in Rome Horse Sacrifice

 contd from: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2012/04/vedic-culture-cradle-of-other_16.html

To obtain salvation people were asked to follow different paths during each of the 4 ages. During Krita Yuga the prescribed path was through meditation, during Treta Yuga the path prescribed is by performing sacrifices. The Dwapara Yuga prescribes prayers and the Kali Yuga prescribes chanting the names  of god. The time period of Ramayana is Treta Yuga and sacrifices were performed to attain salvation. All the Vedas and the Upanishads prohibit animal sacrifice and such sacrifices are said to prevent a person from attaining salvation. This being the case we can safely say that the Ashwamedha Yaga mentioned in the Ramayana is a symbolic sacrifice only; the goal of this yagna is attaining Supreme Brahman i.e salvation. Animals were not sacrificed in this yagna. The sacrifices of various animals mentioned in the Vedas are also reference to the sacrifice of animal nature inherent in the performer of the sacrifice.

Vedic influence in Rome Horse Sacrifice

 contd from: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2012/04/vedic-culture-cradle-of-other_15.html

The word Ashwa has many meanings. It also refers to an empire or a nation. It refers to the Sun and letting the horse loose for a year symbolizes the Sun’s yearly travel. Ashwa also refer to our senses. The sacrifice of the horse mentioned in the Vedas is actually a sacrifice of the senses. The Vedas clearly state that animals are not to be slaughtered and actually sacrificed. The Srimadh Bhagawatam also clearly states that anyone who sacrifices animals will go to a special kind of hell where the sacrificed animals will come and torment the sacrificer. Lord Vishnu prohibits animal sacrifices. Since King Dasaratha and Queen Kausalya obtained Lord Vishnu himself as their son it can be safely claimed that they did not actually sacrifice a horse. If they had slaughtered a horse, they would have gone against the Vedas in which case they wouldn’t have obtained the divine grace of Lord Vishnu. The Valmiki Ramayana states that Queen Kausalya symbolically slaughtered the horse and spent a night with the dead horse. This verse actually means that she brought her senses under control and meditated on the Supreme Brahman throughout the night. The Valmiki Ramayana also states that in the morning “the horse flew away”.

 If the horse referred to here is an actual dead horse, how can it sprint away? The horse flying away could refer to the Queen who is the self; the self is released from the power of the senses and finds the Supreme-Self. Only substitutions in the form of plant matter is used in the enactment of this ritual. King Dasaratha performed this sacrifice properly as per the Vedas and was blessed to obtain Lord Vishnu as his son.

The Valmiki Ramayana is said to be a condensed version of the Vedas. It teaches Vedanta philosophy and emphasizes on the way to reach God. The Valmiki Ramayana also uses many symbols just like the Vedas to help people understand the Vedantic philosophy. As the subject matter dealt with is difficult to comprehend by regular people, the rishis used allegories to explain the difficult concepts.

Hence the Vedic texts did not mean actual sacrifice of horses but when the verses were read by people who did not grasp the actual meaning, the texts were translated to mean slaughter and sacrifice the horses. Thus we can see that the actual concept was not transferred to Rome . The Romans slaughtered their horses during the October Horse Sacrifice. The Romans believed that such a sacrifice would improve agricultural productivity as well as strengthen their military power.

Contd on: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2012/04/vedic-culture-cradle-of-other_17.html

Vedic influence in Rome Horse Sacrifice

Most religions especially in Rome, Greece, Persia etc. had rituals involving the sacrifice of animals. Most of these sacrifices are mentioned in the Vedas but they do not mean actual animal sacrifices but are symbolic representation of spiritual truth. The words in the Vedas are encoded. The literal meaning cannot be taken. The literal meaning is used as symbols to explain higher truths. Over time during the transfer of knowledge, the key to decode the Vedas was lost and only the literal meaning was transferred. As a result we see evidence of animal sacrifices in ancient Rome, Greece, Persia etc.  I will show some examples of animal sacrifices mentioned in the Vedas and their actual meaning.

The Ashwamedha Sacrifice: This a sacrifice in which a horse is sacrificed. The Brihadaranya Upanishad states that the creator under the name of Mrityu (Death) became the horse sacrificed in the Ashwamedha ritual. It is said that in the beginning nothing existed. He as Death made up his mind to become atmanvi. He brought forth water from which sprang earth. He got Fire by toiling the Earth and from Fire Air. Hankering Death wanted a second Atman to be born. By combining his mind with speech he brought forth the entire universe. Whatever he brought forth he began to eat. Desiring his body to be fit for sacrifice, he became the horse. He let the horse loose for a year; after the completion of one year, he sacrificed the horse to Himself. This analogy is modeled on the life of warriors who give up their life to protect many. 

This sacrificial rite indicates the self-sacrifice made by the creator to become the many forms by which he starts creation. It can also be said that, “He the Self, rides on the horse which is himself, to reach Himself”. By this He is also said to conquer recurring death. Hankering Death and His desire to eat all represent his wish for us to reach him. He shows us the way through his self-sacrifice by which he rides on himself to reach him. He is the sacrificial victim, the sacrificial fire and the enjoyer of the sacrifice. This teaches us about the way to reach the Supreme Brahman. We need to sacrifice ourselves unto him wholeheartedly. We also need to ride on him to reach him. That is He is the means as well as the end. The texts also say that Vak the wife of Brahma the creator went away from him and entered the sacrificial horse representing the fact that she is one with him. In the Sri Vaishnava belief the Goddess Sri is worshiped with Lord Vishnu and both of them together are the means as well as the end. 

King Dasharatha obtained Lord Vishnu the Supreme Brahman as his son by conducting the Ashwamedha Sacrifice. In this case, it could be said that the sacrifice was used as a fertility rite. The king who conducts 100 such sacrifices is also believed to become the next Devendra. Through God’s grace anything is possible; He has the power to make our wish come true. Our main goal should be to reach him but instead if a king wishes to become the king of the celestials and surrenders to the Supreme Brahman for help the king’s wish will definitely come true. This sacrifice teaches us about surrendering to God so that he may save us from recurrent death. It is not an actual sacrifice in which horses are to be slaughtered.

In ancient Rome the October Horse Sacrifice was very popular. A chariot race was held in October. The horse harnessed to the right hand side of the winning chariot was sacrificed to Mars. The head of the horse was cut-off. The horse was taken to the king’s hearth so that the horse’s blood would spill in to the king’s fire. The remaining blood of the horse was preserved till April when it was given to the shepherds to be burnt. This sacrifice was conducted as a fertility rite. The sacrifice was believed to help both the agricultural and the military sector.

Vedic influence in Persia

The Vedas have many allegories for God. They often mention the canopy of heaven is supported from falling by Indra. The word “Indra” means king. Only when we say “Devendra” we mean the Celestial king of all the Devas.  The word “Indra” by itself refers to God as he is the only one who supports this entire universe and hence the canopy of heaven from falling. He is also the king of this entire universe. God is also mentioned as the Sun by the Vedas. The Sun shines upon all without bias likewise, God looks at all creatures equally with love. The Sun is said to purify this world by his maya. There is also a verse in the Vedas which says that Mithra and Varuna cause the heaven to rain by the maya of the Asura. The word “maya” means “true power” and not “magic” or “illusion”. In other words, Mithra and Varuna bring rain to Earth by the true power of God.  We can see how the solar deities Mithra and Varuna are associated with the power of the Asura (God). We can see the manner in which the concepts were derived from the Vedas by the Persians. We can even see how the Persians named their supreme God as Ahura-Mazda based on the Vedas (see my previous post). Originally Ahura Mazda is equated with Varuna.  The solar deities Mithra and Varuna are always worshiped together and hence Mithra is associated with the worship of Ahura-Mazda. From the Persians we can derive the Mithraic worship in Rome and the rest of Europe.

Vedic influence in Persia

The pre-Zorastrian Persia revolved around the worship of Mithra. He appears as the God of peace in the Vedic religion and as the God of faithfulness in Avestic. Mithra in the Vedic tradition is one of the Adhityas a Solar deity. See list below.

1. Varuna
2. Mithra
3. Aryaman
4. Bhaga
5. Anśa or Aṃśa
6. Dhātṛ or Dakṣa
7. Indra

Mithra is often worshiped in the company of Varuna in the Vedic tradition and in the Avestic Mitra-Ahura Mazdha.

In the Vedic tradition the Solar deity Aryaman is the chief of the Manes. The word Aryaman can be split into the following two words “Aha” and “yama”.  Aha  means time & Yama means controller. The Ahriman of the Persians refer to Aryaman. Death in Persia is associated with the victory of Ahriman over a living being. Ahriman’s victory over Ahura-Mazda also indicated the passage of time through the 4 ages. Hence, Ahriman can be seen as the controller of time. 

References:
Wikipedia

Vedic Elements in the Ancient Iranian Religion of Zarathushtra by Subhash Kak

Vedic influence in Persia

The ancient Persians also believed that the great age was divided into 4 ages . They believed that in the first age Ahriman is defeated and he starts to be victorious slowly through the other three ages. This is identical to the “yuga” system of Vedic India in which “dharma” or virtue deteriorates by one quarter throughout the four ages.

Many of the Avestic myths are parallel to the Vedic myths. The ancient Persians believed that Yima was the son of Vivanghat; the Vedic people believe that Yama is the son of Vivaswat. According to the Vedas the dead gather in the world of Yama and after a period of time are reborn. According to the Avestic tradition the people from Yima’s world repopulate our world after major cataclysms. They associate brown four eyed dogs with death; in the Vedic tradition 2 brown four eyed dogs guard the city of Yama .

The ancient Persians worshiped fire in altars. They were careful not to blow on fire. In the Vedic tradition when a lamp is lighted in the prayer room it cannot be turned off by blowing out the flames. Just like in the Vedic tradition the ancient Persians considered nail clippings, hair trimmings etc to be unclean and disposed off them carefully. Both in the Vedic and the Avestic traditions it is believed that nail clippings, hair trimmings etc could be used to do black magic.

Vedic influence in Persia (Purusha Medha)

The name of the Persian God Ahura Mazdha is derived from the Sanskrit term Asura Medha. The word “Asura” in Sanskrit originally meant “the most powerful God” ; it did not refer to the antagonizers of the Devas. The “s” in “Asura” is replaced with “h” in “Ahura” the same as the word “Sindhu” came to be pronounced as “Hindu” in Persian.

“Medha” in Sanskrit means sacrifice. “Asura Medha” came to be pronounced as “Ahura Mazdha” in Persian which refers to “Purusha Medha”. The Purusha Medha is a form of sacrifice mentioned in the Vedas. The term “Purusha” came to be interpreted as “man” and people mistakenly believed that the Vedas have historical reference to human sacrifices. Just like in English there are many homonyms in Sanskrit. Unlike English the spelling for the homonyms in Sanskrit does not change. The word “Purusha” actually refers to “self”. By “self” it refers to the “paramatma” who is the soul of “jeevatama”. That is the “super soul” is the soul of all souls. Paramatma or God is our soul. The mythical being “Purusha” who is sacrificed during the “Purusha-Medha” sacrifice mentioned in the Vedas, refers to God. By sacrificing himself, God enters into the heart of every living creature. By entering into the heart of all living beings he loves them all as Himself. He sees all and loves all equally unlike the selfish man/woman who does not see oneself beyond his body. This is God’s self sacrifice. He offered the seed-state of all beings in to the fire of sacrifice along with himself. Through this action he came to reside completely in all creatures at the same time residing outside as the Universal God.  Like him we are advised to perform self-sacrifice too; by self-sacrifice it does not mean that we should jump into the fire or kill someone and offer them to God. Self-sacrifice here means that we should bring our senses under control, subdue passion and be righteous. By this way we can realize Paramatma residing in our heart. We should understand our relationship we share with him. We should understand that we belong to him and him only. We should offer our self to him wholeheartedly. This is the meaning of the “Purusha-Medha” sacrifice. The Purusha referred in the Purusha-Medha is God who is the first cause of everything. God is “Asura” the most powerful being. Hence by the word “Purusha” we refer to God who is the soul of everyone. The word “Medha” also refers to intelligence. Purusha Medha could also refer to God as the most intelligent being. When we refer to him as “Asura Medha (Ahura Mazdha)” we refer to the most powerful and intelligent being. The Avesta and the Vedas refer to the same concept and believe in one Universal God who is the most intelligent and powerful being.

Vedic influence in Persia

The ancient Persians believed in the purity of the elements especially of fire, water and earth. This under the influence of Zoroastrianism or the Magi priests prevented them from cremating or burying their dead. They believed that they were polluting the elements by cremating or burying their dead. Fire worship was prevalent. Due to the sacredness of fire people who cremated the dead were punished severely. The ancient Persians like the Vedic people also believed that Agni (fire) was the messenger between men and gods. In the Vedic religion Agni is called as Nara-Sansa whereas in the Avestic tradition Agni is called as Nairyo-Sangha. We also see a division of society similar to the Vedic society; the Athravans were the priests, the Rathesta were the warriors and the Vasteyo were the merchants and farmers. The fire-priests were known as “Atharvans” in Vedic India. The Atharva Veda was also practiced by two groups of sages known as the Atharvanas and the Angirasa during ancient times. The origin of the Persian civilization could probably be traced to the lineage of the Atharvan sages.

Vedic influence in Persia

I have many friends from Iran and I was extremely surprised when they told me that they step over fire seven times to celebrate their New Year. I didn’t expect fire worship in Iran as it is an Islamic nation. I was also amazed at the way they arranged fruits, rice, money, gold, flowers and clothes on a table on New Year’s Day as they believe that anything they add to the table will multiply. This custom reminded me of the way in which we celebrate the Vedic New Year. We too put flowers, lentils, rice, clothes, fruits etc. in our prayer room.  I suspected that ancient Iran might have had Vedic roots and the following paragraphs are a result of my research.

Zoroastrianism flourished in ancient Persia. It had retained many of the Vedic roots and traditions of ancient Persian. They believe in dualism; everything that is good in this world is created by Ahura-Mazda and everything that is evil or bad by Ahriman. This concept looks familiar to the concept of Siva & Rudra (please refer to my previous posts). They also believe that the good and the bad are constantly at war. They refer to the bad as Daevos. In the Vedic tradition the good is represented by Devas and the bad by Asura. The Devas and the Asuras of the Vedic tradition are constantly at war as well.

Vedic influence in Greece

Many of the Greek Gods resemble the Vedic Devas. We can equate Zeus with Indra they are both represented as the chief of all Gods and are shown to wield the thunderbolt, Poseidon with Varuna or Samudra Raja as the lord of the ocean, Athena with the Vedic goddess of learning Saraswati. The Greek God Pan who is portrayed as playing the flute and sporting among shepherds sounds very similar to Lord Krishna who frolicked with cowherds and played the flute as well. It is very evident that many of the Greek mythologies and religious concepts have been borrowed from the Vedic religion. The concepts of the ancient Greek religion and mythologies are not as well formed as the concepts of the Vedic religion.
The Greek ambassador Heliodorus erected a stone pillar in Central India and dedicated it to the court of the Sunga king Bhagabhadra in 110 BCE.  The pillar was surmounted by a sculpture of Garuda and was dedicated to Lord Vasudeva an avatar of lord Vishnu. The pillar had the following inscription.
“Devadevasa Va [sude]vasa Garudadhvajo ayam
karito i[a] Heliodorena bhaga-
vatena Diyasa putrena Takhasilakena
Yonadatena agatena maharajasa
Amtalikitasa upa[m]ta samkasam-rano
Kasiput[r]asa [Bh]agabhadrasa tratarasa
vasena [chatu]dasena rajena vadhamanasa"
Which means,

"This Garuda-standard of Vasudeva, the God of Gods

“This Garuda-standard of Vasudeva, God of Gods

was erected here by the devotee Heliodoros,

the son of Dion, a man of Taxila,

sent by the Great Greek (Yona) King

Antialkidas, as ambassador to

King Kasiputra Bhagabhadra, the Savior

son of the princess from Benares, in the fourteenth year of his reign."

Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliodorus_pillar

The Bactrian King Agathocles was also known to have issued coins depicting the avatars of Lord Vishnu.  We have seen that the Greek, Roman and Egyptian civilizations were very familiar with the Vedic teachings and concepts. The Vedic mythologies had been modified to fit the regional beliefs of the Greeks & Egyptians. The early proponents of the “Aryan invasion theory” claimed that the Vedic religion was first propounded by Greeks; it is very evident that the Greeks were the ones who had borrowed concepts from the Vedic people and not the other way around as, while the Greek religion is now dead the Vedic religion is still standing. The root has survived whereas the various branches like the Egyptian and the Greek religions have died. I shall show how religious concepts get modified on a daily basis in my concluding post for this series. I shall also continue examining evidence of Vedic roots in other ancient civilizations.

References:

Religion of the ancient Greeks - m Le Clerc De Septchenes

The origin of pagan idolatry - George Stanley Faber

An analysis of the Egyptian Mythology: to which is subjoined a critical examination of the remains of Egyptian chronology - J.C. Prichard, M.D

Vedic influence in Greece

The Greeks believed in a cyclic process of creation and destruction as well. They also believed in 4 great ages like the Vedic people. They believed (Stoics) in two types of destruction; the first type is partial caused due to natural phenomenon like earthquakes and floods, the second type is absolute during which the entire universes is absorbed by the first cause. The Vedas mention three types of destruction which are as follows; destruction on a day to day basis when living beings die, destruction caused by natural calamities like earthquakes and floods, the final destruction during which Lord Vishnu absorbs the entire universe.

Vedic influence in Greece

The main elements of Orphism match with the Vedic philosophy. Orpheus believed that human souls were immortal but that they were doomed to live in a mortal body. He recommended an ascetic way of life together with secret initiation rites to attain salvation. He warned his followers about the types of punishments one would have to endure in hell after death for misdeeds done while living. The theory of Orpheus matches well with the Vedic concepts. In the Vedic religion souls are considered to be immortal bound in a mortal body as well. The Sri Vaishnavas are initiated to learn the secret Vedic doctrines for attaining salvation after which they are advised to practice a way of life full of austerities to break the cycles of birth & death in order to obtain salvation.

Vedic influence in Greece

The Hindu Puranas gave a detailed description of the location for the source of the Nile . Lieutenant Speake constructed his map from the Puranas when he went on his expedition to search for the source of the Nile . The Puranas use the word “nila” to describe the Nile . Nila means blue in Sanskrit. A form of God which was half male and half female existed in ancient Egypt , where Osiris was the Male Human aspect of God and Isis was his female counterpart. A similar concept exists in the ancient Indian culture in the form of Ardhanareeshwara (Ardha=half, Nari=female, Eshwara=male)

There has been a great deal of exchange of ideas and philosophies between the ancient Greeks and the Egyptians. The Greek God Dionysus is considered to be the Egyptian God Osiris. Dionysus is often represented by the horns of a bull. We see the symbol of bull is used to connect both Osiris and Dionysus. As mentioned earlier Siva is associated with Bull in India. The Greeks in general believed in the “first cause” just like the Egyptians. They belief in one supreme personality who is termed as the “first cause” is identical to the Vedic principle of Vishnu. The religion propounded by Orpheus in ancient Greece associates God with a Goddess and promotes the worship of the two in one form. This is the concept of Sri Vaishnavism in which Lord Vishnu is worshiped together with goddess Lakshmi. The Goddess resides in the chest cavity of Lord Vishnu; Orpheus believed that the God and the Goddess shares a body and together created this universe. In Orphaeic religion other Gods are subordinate to this Supreme Being. All the other Gods along with living and non-living matter form the body of the Supreme Being. This is the Vedic concept of God as well.

References:

Religion of the ancient Greeks - m Le Clerc De Septchenes

The origin of pagan idolatry - George Stanley Faber

An analysis of the Egyptian Mythology: to which is subjoined a critical examination of the remains of Egyptian chronology - J.C. Prichard, M.D