The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c27.s1.12

v1.c27.s1.12

The nature of the ordinary offering to the god is expressly stated to be an offering made to the god for the purpose of attracting his attention and good-will, so that, delighted himself, the god may reward in the appropriate way his worshipper. This is essentially the standpoint of the Rigveda where the sacrificer is promised wealth both temporal and in the world to come in return for his sacrifice, and his gifts to the priest, and where the gods are invoked to delight themselves with the offering and to reward their votaries.² The Brāhmaṇas bluntly state the doctrine of *do ut des* in so many words,³ and Suçravas, we are told, was approached by Indra, who told him he was hungry and gladly took from him the cakes of the offering.⁴ But the gods in the Rigveda are not less frank in their expression of feeling: they can sympathize with the poor man who can offer but little,⁵ but they are bitterly indignant with the rich man who gives nothing. The whole formula is excellently expressed in the Sūktavāka formula uttered near the end of the sacrifice, where it is said,⁶ 'The god hath accepted the offering; he hath become strengthened; he hath won greater might,' to which the sacrificer for whom the rite is performed replies, 'May I prosper in accordance with the prospering of the god.' It is, however, needless to multiply examples: this theory of the sacrifice and its result as an exchange of gifts, of strength for strength, is the fundamental fact of the whole Vedic religion.