The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c39.s2.54

v2.c39.s2.54

The obvious question why the term Brahman is so regularly used of prayer in the Rigveda is answered by the theory that the cause is used for the effect, and similarly the use of *ṛc* and *dhī*, *dhīti*, and *dīdhiti* is explained. Moreover a suitable etymology is found in the comparison with the Greek φλέγω and Latin *flagro*, and the Brahmacārin of the Atharvaveda ⁵ is explained as one who concentrates in himself the fire from which all conditions and actions in the world are derived. The fact that Bṛhaspati appears in the Rigveda already as a moon god, which Hertel accepts from Hillebrandt,⁶ is explained as due to the gradual fading out of the idea of the sun and moon as merely doors to heaven and the abode of the Soma, the rain, and the Fathers, and the emergence of the conception of the moon as actually the home of these beings.