Na Tasya Pratima Asti - what it means

Yajur Veda 32.3: Na Tasya Pratima Asti
As we all know, one shloka of from this important sukta 32.3 "Na Tasya Pratima Asti" is highly misqouted by anti Hindu and evil people like Jakir Naik.
Though everybody knows people like Jakir Naik are giving example of their evil deeds, they have no affinity with Vedas but only purpose is to fool Hindus and even muslims. Such lies has been exposed many a times.
This post provides the proper explanation. Please must read and share as much as possible.

Brahman,The transcendent ‘That’ :
( Shukla Yajur Ved, chapter 32 )

==========="Na Tasya Pratima Asti"===========


Sages of the Ved realized Brahman cannot be described by the epithets involving genders like he, she etc. Hence they used the epithet 'That'(Tat).

We know the mhavakya from Chhandogya Upanishad : " Tat Tvam Asi " ( "You Are That" i.e. you are verily the Brahman.)

The verse of Shukla Yajur Ved 32.1 states:

"Agni is That,……Brahman is That,..…Waters are That…."

Verses like these point to the high spiritual and philosophical attainments of the sages.

The third verse states: " न तस्य प्रतिमा अस्ति "
.....Shukla Yajur Ved 32.3

"There is no pattern of That" / " There is no parallel to That" /
" There is no comparison of That".

Recently a misguiding anti-Hindu propaganda is going on by promoting this verse which claims that the persons of vedic age were against the worship of the God using murti or icon. This claim is baseless. The image or murti is a symbol of the supreme power and symbolism is used in the Ved many times. In the famous Purush Suktam of [Rig Ved 10.90] or in chap. 31 the Supreme Purush is symbolized by a being of innumerable heads.


Shukla Yajur Ved 32 :

Agni is That, Aditya is That, Vayu is That, Chandramas is That, the bright One is That, Brahman is That, Waters are That, Prajapati is That. (32.1)

All winkings of the eye arose out of the radiant Purusha. None has comprehended him above, across or in the midst. (32.2)

There is none to compare with him/ There is no parallel to him, whose glory, verily, is great; whom we praise as 'Hiranyagarbha' ,'May he not destroy us','No one other than thee' etc. (32.3)

He is the deity who pervades all the regions, born at first, he is also within the womb. Verily, he who is born and is to be born,meets his offspring facing him on all sides. (32.4)

Before him there was nothing whatever born, who pervaded the entire world of created things; Lord of life, he rejoiced in his off-spring; Possessed of sixteen parts, he unites the three lights. (32.5)

He through whom the heaven is strong and the earth firm,who has steadied the light and the sky's vault,and measured out the sphere of clouds in the mid-air.Who is the Deity we shall worship with our offerings? (32.6)

To whom, supported by his help, two embattled armies look while trembling in their spirit, Where over them the risen Sun is shining. What God shall we adore with our oblation?When the mighty waters etc. He who in his might surveyed etc. (32.7)

Vena beholds That Being, hidden in mystery,in whom all find one single home; In That all this unites; from That all issues forth; He, omnipresent, is warp and woof in created things. (32.8)

Let the Gandharva who knows the Eternal, speak of that station which is parted yet wrapped in mystery.Three steps of That are in mystery hidden; he who knows them shall be the father's father. (32.9)

He is our Kin, our Father, our Creator,he knows all ordinances and all beings, in whom Devas, attaining life eternal, have arisen to the loftiest station. (32.10)

Having encompassed all creatures, encompassed all worlds, encompassed all the regions and directions,and approached the First-born of Eternal Order,he with the Self entered into the Self. (32.11)

And going swiftly round the heaven and earth,around the worlds, around the quarters, around the sky,and lengthening out the wide-spread thread of Order,he saw That, he became That, he was That. (32.12)

The wonderful Lord of the Assembly,dear to Indra, lovable, who bestows wisdom, has been approached by me. Hail! (32.13)

The talent that Devas and Fathers esteem,with that talent, Agni, endow me today. (32.14)

May Varuna give me talent,may Agni and Prajapati give it; May Indra and Vayu grant me talent, and Dhatr grant it to me. Hail! (32.15)

Let both the spiritual and the political man possess the lustre that I seek. May the Devas give me the noblest lustre. To thee, that lustre, Hail! (32.16)


Yajur Ved 25:10 :

हिरण्यगर्भः समवर्त्तताग्रे भूतस्य जातः पतिरेक ऽ आसीत |
स दाधार पृथिवीं द्यामुतेमां कस्मै देवाय हविषा विधेम ||

"That “Hiranya garbh” (Golden womb) who was present even before the creation of the world, who only is the master of this world, who beholds the earth and the space beyond, is alone worth to be praised."
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Mention Of Image Worship In Scriptures :

From Yoga Vashishtha :

"For those who have not known the essential nature of Deity, the worship of form and the like has been prescribed.To one who is incapable of (travelling) a distance of one Yojana (eight miles), a distance of one Krosa (two miles) is provided."

From The Bhagavad Gita, Ch.12, Verse 5 :

"Greater is their trouble whose minds are set on the unmanifested; for the goal, the unmanifested, is very hard for the embodied to reach".

In the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 4-14 :

The wife of sage Yajnyavalkya, and she herself a soul far advanced in the spiritual path, says to her husband:

"Constituted as we are, we need something concrete to fix our minds on and stir our imagination before we can think of subtler ideas".

From The Mahabharata
Santi Parva, section CCXVII
Translated by Sri Kisari Mohan Ganguli

Bhishma said: "Some worship Brahman in images. Some worship Him as existing in attributes. Some repeatedly realise the highest Divinity which has been described to be like a flash of lightning and which is again indestructible. Others who have burnt their sins by penances, attain to Brahman in the end. All those high-souled persons attain to the highest end."