Vedic Wisdom - Satapatha Brahmana or Creative Sacrifice

Vedic Wisdom

Satapatha Brahmana or Creative Sacrifice

The Brahmanas are an integral part of Vedic literature and deal with different kinds of sacrifices offered to the Gods Agni, Indra, and the rest. In this connection we have explained that, in its original Vedic conception, Sacrifice means selfless, creative action, meant for the benefit of the world; and in the Rig Veda the supreme Purusha is said to have created the universe by means of Sacrifice, and the same idea is repeated in later Sacred Books of the Hindus.This is also the idea of the Brahmanas, signifying the association of the Gods of the Vedas with creative action in the universe.

The ritual of the Fire-altar was elaborated with a definite object in view, viz., that of making the external rites and ceremonies of the sacrificial cult the practical devotional expression of certain dominant theories of the nature. As a matter of fact, the dogmatic exposition of no other part of the sacrificial ceremonial reflects so fully and so faithfully as that of the Agnichayana (keeping the sacred fire) of those cosmic theories.

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In the Purusha sukta in which the supreme spirit is conceived of as the Person or Man (Purusha) born in the beginning, and consisting of whatsoever has been and whatsoever will be, and the creation of the visible and invisible universe is represented as originating from him as an “all-of- fered” sacrifice (yajnya) in which the Purusha himself forms the offering material (havis), or, as one might say, the victim.In the Brahmanas, ‘Prajapati’, takes the place of the Purusha, the world-man, or all-embracing

personality and is offered up a new in every sacrifice; and in as much as the very dismemberment of the Lord of Creatures, which took place at that archetypal sacrifice, was in itself the creation of the universe, so every sacrifice is also a repetition of that first creative act.

Thus the periodical sacrifice is nothing else than a microcosmic representation of the ever proceeding destruction and renewal of all cosmic life and matter. The theologians of the Brahmanas go, however, an important step further by identifying the performer, o r patron, of the sacrifice the ‘Sacrificer’ with Prajapati.

With the introduction of the Prajapati theory into the sacrificial metaphysics, theological speculation takes a higher flight, developing features of Gnostic philosophy. From a mere act of piety, and of practical, if mystic, significance to the person or persons, immediately concerned, the sacrifice in the esoteric view of the metaphysician, at least becomes an event of cosmic significance.By offering up his own self in sacrifice, Prajapati becomes dismembered; and all those separated limbs and faculties of his come to form the universe all that exists, from the Devas and Asuras (the children of Father Prajapati) down to the worm, the blade of grass, and the smallest particle of inert matter.

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It requires a new, and ever new, sacrifices to build the dismembered Lord of Creatures up again, and restore him so as to enable him to offer himself up again and again, and renew the universe, and thus keep up the uninterrupted revolution of time and matter. The idea of dismembered Prajapati, and of this or that sacrificial act being required to complete and replenish him, occurs throughout the lucubration of the Brahmanas.The Fire-altar, to which the Brahmanas give great attention in very great details is the whole universe in miniature, where the individual sacrificer, the human Soul prajapati associated with his wife, or Prakrti. The materials of the sacrifice are but the forms of the forces in whose midst he is placed; while Agni and the other Gods represent the supreme creative energies of life by means of which he is to attain to his final goal.

In course of time, however, this original conception appears to have been lost, and Sacrifice came to be associated with ritual and ceremonial form and its object was regarded as the attainment of wealth or success or power. But so far as the Sacred Books are concerned, they deal only with the ancient idea of Sacrifice as creative and selfless action in the world.

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This article is a snippet from the Book Vedic Wisdom, Authored by Pandit Sri Rama Sharma. Vedic Wisdom is available online at www.giri.in and across Giri Trading Agency Private Limited, A chain of Speciality Stores dealing in all kinds of products needed in Indian Culture and Tradition.