Namaste,

Recently,I heard a discourse on the TV.The speaker said something like 'the Vedas are the breath(not sure of the exact word) of God'.I was like "WHAT?"

I have always heard and read that the Vedas are 'Apourusheya' i.e. not man made and I also heard that no God/gods created the Vedas,the Vedas always existed and will always exist.

I thought about this for some time.The speaker belongs to a sectarian tradition and I felt that is a common belief,all sectarian traditions say that their deity is The God of the Vedas or that Their God caused the Vedas to come into existence.But the man who spoke was no ordinary person, he is a Pandita.If a scholar has such an idea then an attempt must be made to know what he was trying to convey.

1.What is the origin of the word 'Apourusheya' or the theory it conveys about the Vedas?Is this word found in the Veda itself or was it said so about the Vedas in any other scripture?

2.Do any mantras in the Vedas(/Mantra Samhita) refer to the Veda as existing by itself?

3.Did God create the Vedas or did Devatas(gods) create the Vedas?

OR

Did God or the Devas come into existence because of the Veda Mantras?


-Capital 'G' God refers to the greatest God
(All sectarian systems have the belief that their deity is the greatest God among all gods.For the sake of clarity let us use some well known examples:Lord Vishnu for the Vaishnavas,Lord Shiva for the Shaivas,Sri Devi for the Shaktas etc.)
-Capital 'G' God can be taken as Brahman too.(For those who believe God is formless,nameless,attribute-less etc.)
-Small 'g'- 'gods' refers to all the Devas mentioned in the Vedas.(Some don't believe in distinctions/hierarchies among gods/Gods i.e. God=gods or God=gods=Brahman)

Simply putting,which or who came first

The Vedas came first==>and then from it came God/Brahman or all the gods
OR
Brahman/Great Sectarian Gods==>caused the Vedas to come into existence(or as the Pandita said a 'Deity/God' breathed or exhaled and the Vedas came into existence)

Why all these questions?Because it helps to know what is the relationship between the Vedas,God(Sectarian Greatest God/Brahman) and the Devas mentioned in the Vedas.

1.If God(i.e. a Sectarian God) or gods(Devatas) created the Veda,then it implies that though the Veda is supreme knowledge,God/Devatas are more powerful than it.
2.If the God(a Sectarian God) and all Devas came into existence because of the Veda Mantras,then the Vedas are naturally independent and maybe higher than God and gods.
3.If Brahman created the Vedas and everything is Maya(/his maya shakti)then this means something else.
4.If both God & Vedas exist externally from the beginning,I don't know what that means(who created which or which caused whom)

Some may feel these questions are stupid or as I am a non-native English speaker I could have put them improperly.If any member can comprehend the questions,please do answer.Thanks.

P.S.Does Deva-s and Devata-s mean the same set of beings as I am assuming or are they different beings?