The Religion of the Veda: The Ancient Religion of India (from Rig-Veda to Upanishads) c9.s1.56

c9.s1.56

To some extent we can test this statement by showing what the religious feeling of the Veda is not, rather than what it is. The frank system of barter of the sacrificer's *soma* and ghee for the god's good gift and protection, with considerably more than one-eighth of one per cent. brokerage for the priest—that, surely, is *not* the religious feeling in the souls of the composers of the Rig-Veda hymns. I have taken pains to show how constantly present is this external side of their religion: may the religion that is free from all external considerations, the religion from which is absent every form of safe-guarding self, throw the first stone.