Vaishnavism, Shaivism and Minor Religious Systems v2.c12.45

v2.c12.45

§ 5. Here we have two accounts, the second of which is interwoven with the first. The former, however, appears to relate to a more ancient condition of things. The points to be noticed are these: 1. At the sacrifice instituted by Vasu Uparicara no animals were killed. 2. The oblations were devised in accordance with the teachings of the Āraṇyakas which include the Upaniṣads. 3. The chief deity was the God of gods, who is also called Hari. 4. This Hari or God of gods is not to be seen by one who follows the sacrificial mode of worship, such as Bṛhaspati did, nor by persons who practise austerities for thousands of years, as Ekata, Dvita and Trita did, but by one who worships Him with devotion, as Vasu Uparicara did. Here then is an attempt to introduce a religious reform on more conservative principles than Buddhism and Jainism did. The repudiation of the slaughter of animals and the inefficacy of sacrificial worship and austerities are common to this religious reform with Buddhism. But that the supreme lord Hari is to be worshipped with devotion and the words of the Āraṇyakas are not to be rejected, are doctrines which are peculiar to it. Vasu Uparicara's story goes so far only.