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Re: Answers to Sri Visu

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Mani Varadarajan • October 22, 2002 


Dear Friends,

Sri Venkat and Sri Shreyas have mentioned the Rg Veda
statement 'Of all deities, Agni is the lowest and Vishnu the highest',
and this has been offered as proof from the Rg Veda of
Vishnu's supremacy.

The relative superiority or inferiority of the deities,
however, is probably not the intention of this statement.
The ancient Vedic scholar Yaska writes:

   The deities are threefold -- so say the Vedic etymologists.
   Agni is located on the earth, Vayu and Indra in the 
   intermediate sky, and Surya in the high heavens. 
   Because of their greatness there are many names for
   each of these. Or, it is because of their manifold
   function. [Nirukta 7.2]

   ( tisraH eva devatAH -- iti nairuktAH. agniH pRthivIsthAnaH
   vAyur vA indro vA antarikshasthAnaH, sUryo dyusthAnaH. tAsAm
   mahAbhAgyAt ekaikasyAH api bahUni nAmadheyAni bhavanti.
   api vA karmapRthaktvAt. )

Recall that Vishnu in the traditional grouping is one of the
Adityas, and therefore one of the solar deities, and can be
classified with Surya for this purpose. 

The Rg Veda vakya in question appears to simply be referring
to the location of the deities in their physical manifestations. 
Agni is lowest by virtue of being physically nearest to us, since 
he is the one in our presence who carries Vedic offerings to the 
other deities. Vishnu is the one who is the highest, by 
virtue of being associated with the sun who occupies the
zenith in the sky during the midday.  Vishnu also is the 
highest through the Vedic description of him as having the highest 
place ('tad vishNoH paramam padam'). 

Now there may be a deep spiritual meaning to all of this,
no doubt, but on the face of it this Veda vakya is not 
intelligible in such a manner without the Upanishads and
supporting literature providing context for such an
understanding. Which is why I believe Bhagavad Ramanuja
and other acharyas did not use such statements as evidence
to support such an argument.

adiyen ramanuja dasan,
Mani  


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