Adam and Eve

We all know the story of Adam and Eve (Garden of Eden, sergeant, apple, right?) But we wonder what was the purpose of Mythology creating that story? What was the moral of the story?

It seems there is a Vedic version of the Adam and Eve story, going back many thousands of years. Did you know that? The reason for the story was that the Vedic Brahmins were pushing people towards religion and God. But when bad things happened, people would ask “If God is all-powerful, then why did my infant son die of fever? Why did God not prevent that? I don’t want to pray to God anymore!” That kind of thing….

So, the Brahmins came up with the Adam and Eve myth to give the reason why God was allowing “bad” things to happen to humans. Because of what Adam did, which went against the orders of God, as you will see in the Vedic story to follow.

Before you start, you may want to look on the internet - you see that the Island of Sri Lanka (earlier known as Ceylon. But when this Vedic version of the Adam-Eve story was created, it was all one land, not separate countries) is separated from India by a strip of ocean 30 miles long. Known as Adam’s Bridge or Rama’s Bridge or Rama Setu. In 1480, a storm caused it to submerge under water but for hundreds of thousands of years before 1480, the bridge was passable on foot as it was just inches above the sea level as a sand shoal. So one could walk from Sri Lanka to India back then. There is also a peak in Sri Lanka known as Adam’s peak.

The Vedic Adam & Eve story starts with God first created the earth, and populating the earth with mountains, plants, trees, insects, fish animals. Finally, God created Man. His name was Adhima.

Adhima in Sanskrit or Adhmi in Hindi means man. In Hindi, one may ask “Woh Adhmi Kanu hai?” Or Who is that man? (In Hebrew, the word ‘ben-adam’ meaning ‘the son of adam’ is used colloquially to mean ‘person’ ) The belief is that the Vedic story of Adhima and Heeva was first carried to the Middle East and from there it spread.

God then made a female named “Heeva”. He told Adhima and Heeva to live on the island of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and not to cross over to the vast mainland.

The island was full of everything the happy couple could want - fresh air, crystal clear water springs, flowers, fruits and vegetables throughout. So, for years, they remained on the island, quite content and happy.

During that time, Adhima understood that he had to procreate, and so he held Heeva close and he sensed her beauty, her scent, and so Heeva started murmuring his name “Adhima, Adhima…” – this is important – and he starts murmuring her name in soft whispers. At this point, the sun gets shy and sets in order to hide its face; the moon goes behind a cloud, and all the animals go to sleep. And so Adhima and Heeva decide to do the act of procreation after all the animals have retired and gone to sleep, and did so in an atmosphere of a lot of love and affection. Adhima kissed Heevas eyes and face gently while heeva murmured his name.

The above story was a way for the Brahmins to communicate to the average person that sex is not something to be done wantonly or taken lightly. It’s not just sex, sex, sex. The Adhima -Heeva story shows that sex is something that should happen in love, between husband and wife in the privacy of their home. It is something sacred, not something to be taken lightly.

So, Adhima and Heeva lead the life as prescribed to them by God but still with no children. They were happy with the physical relationship between them; God had provided them with all kinds of things to eat and enjoy.

Well, one day, Adhima got restless, and here’s a second salient difference - it was not Heeva that got restless or acted wrongly. Adhima said, “come on, let’s go to the edge of the island!” and Heeva didn’t understand why he wanted to, since they were happy where they were. Adhima said, “No, no… I’m happy here, but God said not to cross the water, but I just want to see what’s over there.” Heeva became apprehensive and very nervous, resisting and saying, “I don’t want to go”, but Adhima persisted in coaxing her. Heeva said, “well, God told me that I need to be supportive of you as you are of me, and so I will go along with you as your companion but I’m very unhappy with what you’re doing.” Adhima countered by explaining that he was doing nothing wrong, but just wanted to see.

When they got to the edge of the island and saw the mainland of India, they exclaimed, “Oh my, look at the trees on the other side – they’re so much greener, so much bigger. Look at the fruits over there, I can actually see them from here, they’re so much bigger! That land is so beautiful… how much better would that land be over there?”

As mentioned above, at that time there was a sand shoal 30 miles long that connected the island and the mainland (now Sri Lanka and India).

Vedic mythology says that this was the same sand shoal which then showed large stones and was the bridge connecting India to Sri Lanka - Rama’s Bridge or Rama Setu.

Anyway, and so Adhima says to Heeva, “We have this bridge of stones here – God made put it here for us to walk across. Let’s go! Nobody is going to know!

(“This is very similar to the snake coaxing Eve into eating the forbidden apple. The snake contended that nobody was watching, and that it was no big deal – and so there’s a similar coaxing aspect…” except that here it is the male coaxing the female)

So Adhima managed to coax her into walking across, but the minute they get to the mainland and step foot on the ground, the bridge collapses – and all the trees that looked so pretty from the other side no longer looked pretty.

The two then threw themselves on the ground and Heeva starts crying and a booming voice comes from the heavens and says, “You betrayed my trust! I told you not to do this, and now you will be punished – you are going to be killed!” So Heeva pleads that God forgive Adhima, “he didn’t know – he’s a man, and he looks to explore… he didn’t know!” So, on account of Heeva’s pleading, God spared their lives – and that’s the difference: because you are begging me to save him, I’m going to give you guys another chance, but you have to pay for what you did. Therefore, explained God, from that point on, Mankind  was to suffer during their lifetime.

Up until that point, according to this legend created by the Brahmins, man never had any suffering in their island existence. From now on, God explained, they were to suffer because of Adhima’s treacherous action. Hence, humans were to experience pain in childbirth, they would have despondency and depression among them, they would have anxiety, they would experience food shortages,

( “I think this point is similar to the Old Testament story as well. After the point that Adam and Even ate the forbidden fruit, they were put into a harsh world of suffering and pain, once expelled from the Garden of Eden.”)

However, God said “I am Brahma – I am the creator. I have three incarnations: Brahma, the creator of the world; Vishnu, the maintainer of the world; and Shiva, who is the destroyer of the world.” And so, everything in life goes through creation, maintenance, and then destruction. Whether it’s the daytime that ends when the evening comes about, and then ‘dies’ and then the day comes about…” Jonathan is born, he maintains himself, he dies, and then something else gets created. And so everything comes, goes, comes goes… like the seasons.

God says, “I’ll tell you what… because of your prayers, my incarnation as Vishnu the maintainer. I will be born in the womb of you, a woman, any woman… as an incarnation, and He will be the savior. And similarly, every future incarnation of Vishnu will always be born in a woman’s womb, and he will be the one to save mankind.” Heeva thanked God for his mercy, and so they went about their lives.

And that’s the story of Adhima and Heeva… similar, yet different.