Mythology is defined as the study of myths. According to dictionary.com and similar other dictionary websites, myth is a traditional story that is either with or without determinable basis. It is also defined as fictitious or an unproved or false collective belief.
Unfortunately, let alone Westerners, even modern-day Hindus consider all the Vedic historical narratives like the purāṇas, the Rāmāyaṇa, Mahābhārata and other such books to be mythology. This is not only wrong but is the greatest offense at the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord.
VEDIC HISTORIES ARE NOT FOLKLORE
In doing so, the immense value of such transcendental literature is being thoroughly relegated to the level of ordinary fiction and therefore the population misses the ultimate benefit that these scriptures offer in regards to fulfilling the aim of human life, which is to escape the inexorable cycle of birth and death.
The entire corpus of Vedic literature comprise philosophical treatises called the śruti and important related historical narratives known as smṛti. The 4 Vedas, the Vedānta-sūtra, the 108 Upaniṣads and other corollary literature like saṁhitās constitute śruti and the 18 purāṇas, the 18 upa-purāṇas, the itihāsas (historical epics) like the Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata constitute the smṛti literature. Both categories are equally canonical. The vast majority of the Vedic literature was compiled by Śrīla Vyāsadeva who is an empowered incarnation of the Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. The Rāmāyaṇa was written by the great sage Vālmīki.
Great sages such as Śrīla Vālmīki and Śrīla Vyāsadeva are always rapt in thought how to save the suffering humanity from the mire of material existence and they therefore compile such literatures as Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata so that not only scholars but even a common man can access the highest religious principle of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
The words ‘mythology’ and ‘folklore’ cannot be applied to these literatures because they are not some fictitious stories of undeveloped forest tribes. They are factual narrations of the Supreme Lord and His exalted devotees recorded by such stalwart sages as Śrīla Vyāsadeva and Vālmīki and are heard and sung by thoroughly purified devotees of the Supreme Lord who comprise the zenith of human civilization.
THEIR LOFTY PURPOSE
And what is the purpose of writing such narrations? In the Bhagavad-gītā (15.15), the Supreme Personality of Godhead Lord Kṛṣṇa states:
vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyo
vedānta-kṛd veda-vid eva cāham
“By all the Vedas am I to be known; indeed I am the compiler of Vedānta, and I am the knower of the Vedas.” In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya-līlā 20.122 also, the purpose of the Vedic literature is mentioned categorically as follows:
māyā-mugdha jīvera nāhi svataḥ kṛṣṇa-jñāna
jīvere kṛpāya kailā kṛṣṇa veda-purāṇa
“The conditioned soul cannot revive his Kṛṣṇa consciousness by his own effort. But out of causeless mercy, Lord Kṛṣṇa compiled the Vedic literature and its supplements, the Purāṇas.” They are meant for the lofty purpose of bringing the suffering humanity back to the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord and thus end their vicious cycle of birth and death. Lord Kṛṣṇa confirms in the Bhagavad-gītā (4.9) that this is the actual effect of reading literature describing the Lord’s pastimes.
janma karma ca me divyam
evaṁ yo vetti tattvataḥ
tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma
naiti mām eti so ‘rjuna
“One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.” Having taken birth in this material world, one has to undergo all other concomitant miseries of disease, old age, death and many other distressful conditions in the interim. And after death, one has to take birth again. In lower species of life, one is not endowed with sufficient intelligence to extricate himself from this quagmire. But in human life, one can take advantage of his superior intelligence to study the Vedic literature under the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master and thus make a permanent solution to all problems by returning home, back to Godhead, never to return here again.
‘MYTHOLOGY’ IS A MYTH
Only persons of meager faith in the Supreme Lord consider such auspicious literature to be mythology. In doing so, they are directly offending the Supreme Lord because He is nondifferent from such literature — vedo nārāyaṇaḥ sākṣāt — ”The Vedas are directly the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Nārāyaṇa.” [Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 6.1.40] Therefore one who is a nonbeliever in the Vedic texts and hence discards such scriptural teachings is termed as an atheist. The destination of such atheists is also clearly delineated in the Bhagavad-gītā (16.23) by the Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa.
yaḥ śāstra-vidhim utsṛjya
vartate kāma-kārataḥ
na sa siddhim avāpnoti
na sukhaṁ na parāṁ gatim
“He who discards scriptural injunctions and acts according to his own whims attains neither perfection, nor happiness, nor the supreme destination.” And as stated in Bhagavad-gītā (9.3), he returns to the cycle of birth and death.
In Sanskrit terminology, such Vedic historical narrations are never termed as mythology. They are known either as purāṇa or itihāsa, both of which mean ancient historical facts. So this word mythology is a new introduction and is not the original viewpoint of the strict adherents of Vedic culture. So we should shed and throw far distant this polluted thought that they are mythology. We have to accept them canonically.
THE RIGHT MEDICINE
Ordinary, insignificant histories of mundane people were not studied in these purāṇas and itihāsas, nor were they silly, fictional literature. Only descriptions of the pastimes of the Supreme Lord and His pure devotees were narrated and recorded because they have a therapeutic effect on the conditioned souls suffering material pangs.
This is confirmed in Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (10.1.4) as follows:
nivṛtta-tarṣair upagīyamānād
bhavauṣadhāc chrotra-mano-’bhirāmāt
ka uttamaśloka-guṇānuvādāt
pumān virajyeta vinā paśughnāt
“Glorification of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is performed in the paramparā system; that is, it is conveyed from spiritual master to disciple. Such glorification is relished by those no longer interested in the false, temporary glorification of this cosmic manifestation. Descriptions of the Lord are the right medicine for the conditioned soul undergoing repeated birth and death. Therefore, who will cease hearing such glorification of the Lord except a butcher or one who is killing his own self?”
HOW TO RECEIVE SUCH LITERATURE
It is prudent to note that such glorification of the Supreme Lord is to be heard in the association of the Lord’s pure devotees in order to have the desired remedial effect.
satāṁ prasaṅgān mama vīrya-saṁvido
bhavanti hṛt-karṇa-rasāyanāḥ kathāḥ
taj-joṣaṇād āśv apavarga-vartmani
śraddhā ratir bhaktir anukramiṣyati
[Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 3.25.25]
“In the association of pure devotees, discussion of the pastimes and activities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is very pleasing and satisfying to the ear and the heart. By cultivating such knowledge one gradually becomes advanced on the path of liberation, and thereafter he is freed, and his attraction becomes fixed. Then real devotion and devotional service begin.”
One is warned however, in the Padma Purāṇa, that one should never hear topics of the Supreme Lord from those not purified by devotional service unto Him.
avaiṣṇava-mukhodgīrṇaṁ
pūtaṁ hari-kathāmṛtam
śravaṇaṁ naiva kartavyaṁ
sarpocchiṣṭaṁ yathā payaḥ
“One should not hear anything about Kṛṣṇa from a non-Vaiṣṇava. Milk touched by the lips of a serpent has poisonous effects; similarly, talks about Kṛṣṇa given by a non-Vaiṣṇava are also poisonous.”
In fact, the word ‘mythology’ came to be used in regards to the recorded Vedic histories because of non-devotees who present the Lord’s pastimes as such. Such words greatly lessen the transcendental importance of the literatures and people eventually become disinterested in them and thus their door to liberation becomes shut. This is poison. Real devotees will never speak about the Lord or His pastimes in such a derogatory manner.
In this degraded age of kali-yuga, the population is so dull-headed, short-lived, distracted and misled that the study of the vast corpus of Vedic literature is not possible. Fortunately, it is not necessary. One need only study the Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, which comprise the crest jewels of the Vedic literature. One must study them under the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master coming in an authorized disciplic succession. This alone will make one’s life sublime and successful. [End]
