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XV
The Smộti also endorses the same:
“The primeval speech (power of speech ) is unborn, eternal and born of herself. She is divine and in the form of Vedas. It is from the Vedas that all activities and creation start."
Therefore, eternally existing as they do in the highest heavens by themselves, in the form of cosmos and or the great Creator, the Veda came to deserve the designation of Veda having been seen and heard by Rshis through their creative effort and inner sight. The Veda is known to be not man-made; it is super-human because it is not born of human intellect or human imagination; Veda is born of God because it is God-inspired. But one can say that the whole creation is God's; what then is the uniqueness of the Veda ? There is certainly some uniqueness in the vision of the Veda by the Rshis as it is not a normal or common occurrence.
One may well question as to what is uncommon in the vision and expression of the Veda by the Rshis and what is super-human about it. We assert that the realisation of Truth through creative effort, disinterested and detached investigation of it and then the unmistakable correct expression in faultless language of the realised truth, is the uncommonness about it. For instance, the seeing of gods and goddesses in dreams and their appropriation is one thing, while the vision of the Veda Mantra in ones ecstatic condition of communion with truth in which the human element does not participate is quite another. Hence the uniqueness and the absence of any artificiality in the vision of Veda Mantras.
One may see the following quotation:
“We worship that Goddess of Speech whom the wise Rshis, the Mantramakers worshipped by their creative efforts with hard labour and became like unto gods. Let her give us a place in the world of good deeds or merit." (Tait. Br. II-8-5).
These and other quotations from Vedic literature prove the Mantramaking capacity of the Rshis as well as their ability to see the Mantras and hear them. It is obvious that the Veda is not born of human intellect and imagination.
It is because the respective Veda Mantras have been seen by Manu, Vasistha, Vàmadeva, Visvämitra and others that they have been ascribed to the respective Rshis and when using those Mantras, the names of the respective Rshis are mentioned and remembered.
Now let us consider the question of the revelation of new Veda Mantras.
Veda Mantras are without number. They are eternal and they reflect the truth of things. Just as in the past Rshis of old saw and heard and