Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c9.90

c9.90

can never be violated (*adruhā*) by anyone however clever (*māyinaḥ* = *śilpinaḥ*) or wise (*dhīrāḥ*). There is no one in earth or heaven who by his power of supreme knowledge (*Vedyābhiḥ*) can set them at naught. "They cannot bend like mountains" (*parvatāḥ na niname*). The same note is struck in x, 85, 1, stating how the earth remains suspended (*Uttabhita*) in space by the force of Satya, and Āditya by the force of *Ṛita*; and also in x, 190, 1: "*Ṛitaṁ cha satyaṁ cha abhīddhvāt tapasodhyajāyata*"; "the whole creation is the outcome of *Ṛita* and *Satya* which are again the emanations of the Light of supreme knowledge called the *tapas* of Brahma." Similarly, vii, 42, 1 refers to the creative agencies called *Vratas*, while i, 25, 8 describes the Creator as *Dhṛitavrata*, the Upholder of Cosmic Order. The Creator is also called in another hymn *Ṛita-dhāman*. We also find such expressions as "guardians of *ṛita*" (*gopā ṛitasya*) and "practisers of *ṛita*' (*ṛitāyu*). No religion has given a more scientific definition of God so early in man's history. In ii, 12, 5 the atheist unable to find in the Laws of Nature, which are apparently self-sufficient, their Maker, is asked to find Him in those Laws themselves. For *Ṛita* is God: "*Ṛitamekāksharaṁ Brahma*."