Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c9.69

c9.69

Thus these different deities are worshipped as manifestations of the Supreme Deity in the different aspects and forces of Creation and Nature, aiding in the conception of the Cosmic Power and Order which rule and sustain the Universe, *Viśva*. The hymns addressed to these various deities should not make one miss the fundamental note running through the entire Rigveda, uttering forth the profound conception of the One in the Many. Sayāṇa also explains in his Introduction to the Rigveda already cited that "although Indra and other gods are invoked in many Vedic texts, it is the supreme God who is invoked in the form of Indra and other gods (Yadyapīndrādayastatra tatra hūyante tathāpi Parameśvarasyaivendrādirūpeṇāvasthānādavirodhaḥ). The Vājasaneyins have the text: 'Some say, Worship This or worship That ; but the whole Creation is His, in whom all the gods are comprehended.'" We may also cite the *Bṛihad-Devatā*, i, 70-4 : "The Seers in their Mantras say that the Devatās have a common source ; they are called by different names according to the spheres in which they are established. . . Because of the magnitude of the Oversoul, a diversity of names is given . . . according to the distribution of their spheres."