Jan Gonda Quotes

Besides the uncertain date of the Avesta, the cases of cultural, stylistic and lexicographical parallelism between texts of this description do not necessarily point to simultaneity.

In all times and among many peoples there have ... been men, who were aware of the reality of "visions" and intuitions, of inspirations and sudden thoughts and ideas, men who understood that besides the purely sensuous impression a thought, a flash of intuition, in short know- ledge, may come to the human mind, as it were spon- taneously, at least without any conscious activity of the organ of sensory perception and which leaves an impres- sion of great reality; men who know that the "doors of the mind may be opened" (RV. 9,10,6). Often also the source of this knowledge is divine. The god Agni, the guest among men and his guru, is explicitly called a dhiirii rtasya (RV. 1,67,7), i.e. "stream or 'fountain' of transcendental truth", the inventor of brilliant speech (2,9 ,4 sukrasya vacaso manotii) , who brings the light of the vibrations of inspiration (3 ,10 ,5 vipiim jyotimsi bibhrat). He opens the thoughts of the poets (4,11,2), his are the origins of the specialgifts of the seers (4,11,3), and in 6,9 we find an elaborate description of the relation between the god - who is the light of the world as well as the internal light illumining poets and sages - and the poet who by devout concentration upon the god experiences the inspiration as an ecstasy.

Gonda (1975: 65–67) emphasized the “inspired vision of the universal order” expressed in the hymns, in which a “rsi seeks, or enters into contact with, divinity or transcendent reality.”

For Gonda, “chariot drives and other races have often the function of regenerating the productive forces in nature,” while the gods “are described as driving swift horses [10.92.6 ...,] as approaching the sacrificers in their chariots [1.84.18, 7.2.5]” (Gonda 1965: 72, 98).

Many places in the Vedic literature attest to what may be called a pre-scientific interest in and study of the world, and to attempts at systematizing the knowledge resulting from this study. Much attention is paid to chronology and the calendar... astronomy, cosmology, and cosmogony. This scientific concern is wholly determined by man's ritual and religious interests and constitutes an integral part of one and the same harmonious view of life and the world. This does not, however, exclude the occurrence of references to a certain knowledge of anatomy, embryology, and medical practice. Nor did some linguistic facts—as far as they were utilizable for ritual purposes—escape the authors' notice.

[The Aryan invasion] is not reflected in the [Rig-Vedic] hymns.