Adam and Eve, according to the
creation myth of the Abrahamic religions, were the first man and woman. It
occurs in the Genesis of the Old Testament and speaks of the tree of knowledge
and God's commandment that its fruit shall not be eaten. Adam at first did not
eat it but Eve did. After that Adam too ate the forbidden fruit.
They are central to the belief
that humanity is in essence a single family, with everyone descended from a
single pair of original ancestors. They also provide the basis for the doctrines
of the fall of man and original sin that are important beliefs in Christianity,
although not held in Judaism or Islam.
-----
Interestingly, there is a
mention of Yami, the twin sister of Yama, in the Rig Veda, who proposes an
incestuous relationship with her brother and is refused.
It was mentioned in Rig
Veda 10.10, which contains a total number of 14 Riks.
(https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/rig-veda-english-translation/d/doc838586.html)
----
The following is an extract
from the work of Stephanie W. Jamison and Joel P. Brereton, who
translated the Rig Veda into English.
Rig veda 10.10 presents a
tense dialogue between a pair of twins, the male Yama and female Yamī (yama
means “twin”; yamī́ is the feminine form), who become the first mortals.
Yamī́ , who speaks first, urges her twin brother to have sex with her, so that
they can have children and continue their line in the approved manner.
Yama indignantly rejects her
advances, outraged by the idea of incest and certain that the divine guardians
of moral order will see the act and punish them. The hymn ends in an impasse. Yama remains
obdurate and urges Yamī to find another lover.
-----
The apparent indecent
proposal of Yami, presented by the Vedic rishis yamo vaivasvata and yamī vaivasvatī, should be understood in an esoteric sense only, but not in
literal sense.
It is a parable
from Rig Veda.
Yama and Yami are the children
of Vivasvata,
the all-pervasive
Energy/God.
Yama and Yami were not humans,
but 2 innate qualities, ie., (i) the desire to enjoy sensual pleasures continually
and (ii) the strong mental power through which a human can overcome one’s inner
desires to enjoy/indulge in all types of sensual pleasures, that exist in every
human being, from the birth.
·
the desire to enjoy sensual pleasures continually
– Yami
·
the strong mental power through which a human
can overcome one’s inner desires to enjoy/indulge in all types of sensual
pleasures - Yama
-----
The desire to indulge/enjoy
sensual pleasures will always urge another twin-born/co-existing
quality, the strong power, to do the same.
It depends on the individual
as to which quality one nurtures, will ultimately result in one’s destiny.
It is a inner battle that
ensues in every human being, once one decides to move towards the ABSTRACT
things like SPIRITUALITY/GOD.
----
This parable from Rig
Veda 10.10, was told in a slightly altered manner, in the form of a fable, in Rig
Veda 1.164.20.
द्वा सुपर्णा सयुजा सखाया समानं वृक्षं परि षस्वजाते ।
तयोरन्यः पिप्पलं स्वाद्वत्त्यनश्नन्नन्यो अभि चाकशीति ॥
Two birds living together, each the friend of the other, perch upon the same pippla tree. Of
these two, one eats the
sweet fruit of the tree, but the other simply looks on without eating.
----
The above Rik was mentioned in
The
Mundaka Upanishad - Third Mundaka: First Khanda.
Shri Chandrasekharendra
Saraswati, the 68th Jagadguru Shankaracharya of the Kanchi Kamakoti
Peetham, stated about the origin of Adam and Eve story, as follows:
(https://www.kamakoti.org/hindudharma/part2/chap2.htm)
The pippala tree stands for the body. The first
bird represents a being that regards himself as the jivatman or individual self and the fruit
it eats signifies sensual pleasure. In the same body (symbolized by the tree)
the second bird is to be understood as the Paramatman. He is the support of all beings but he
does not know sensual pleasure. Since he does not eat the fruit he naturally
does not have the same experience as the jivatman (the first). The Upanisad
speaks with poetic beauty of the two birds. He, who eats the fruit, is the
individual self, jiva, and he who does not eat is the Supreme Reality, the one
who knows himself to be the Atman.
It is this jiva that has come to
be called Eve in
the Hebrew religious tradition. "Ji" changes to
"i" according to a rule of grammar and "ja" to
"ya". We have the example of "Yamuna" becoming
"Jamuna" or of "Yogindra" being changed to "Joginder
". In the biblical story "jiva" is "Eve" and "Atma" (or
"Atman") is "Adam". "Pippala" has in the same way changed to
"apple".
The Tree of Knowledge is our "bodhi-vrksa". "Bodha" means
"knowledge". It is well known that the Budhha attained enlightenment
under the bodhi tree. But the pipal (pippala)
was known as the bodhi tree even before his time.
The Upanisadic ideas
transplanted into a distant land underwent a change after the lapse of
centuries. Thus, we see in the biblical story that the Atman (Adam) that can
never be subject to sensual pleasure also eats the fruit of the Tree of
Knowledge. While our bodhi tree stands for enlightenment, the enlightenment
that banishes all sensual pleasure, the biblical tree affords worldly pleasure.
These differences notwithstanding there is sufficient evidence here that, once
upon a time, Vedic religion was prevalent in the land of the Hebrews.
----
Yami, the desire to enjoy sensual pleasures continually, can be understood as the bird (JIVA) that eats the sweet fruit of the tree, and Yama, the strong mental power through which a human can overcome one’s inner desires to enjoy/indulge in all types of sensual pleasures, is the other bird (PARAMATMA) that simply looks on without eating.
Thus, we can infer that the Yama and Yami story from
Rig Veda subsequently became the Adam and Eve Story, in the texts of Abrahamic
religions.
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