The Religion of the Veda: The Ancient Religion of India (from Rig-Veda to Upanishads) c7.11

c7.11

But the hymns are dithyrambic, often turgid and intentionally mystic. It requires at times pretty sharp sight to see, and a clear head to remember, that this poetry hugs the sacrifice closely; that at the bottom of the golden liquid of inspiration there are always the residual dregs of a supposedly useful formalism. In fact the poets, as their fancy flies away from their immediate purpose, succeed uncommonly well in withdrawing the eye from the trivial real properties of the sacrifice to the luminous gods whom they praise so well.