ऋक् साम यजुः / ṛk sāma yajuḥ

ऋक् साम यजुः / ṛk sāma yajuḥ

ज्ञान / भक्ति / कर्म  / jñāna bhakti karma 

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वर्तते इति वृत्तिः
वर्तते वर्तमानम् ।
विवर्तते अधर्मः
प्रवर्तते स धर्मः ।
--
धर्म > आचार + विचार,
--
vartate iti vṛttiḥ
vartate vartamānam |
vivartate adharmaḥ
pravartate sa dharmaḥ |
--
dharma > ācāra + vicāra,
--
वेद / Veda ’विद्’ > (ज्ञाने),
The verb-root veda / Veda is derived from ’vid’ > (jñāne)
meaning to perceive.
Veda in this sense means what is perceived (but not interpreted).
The three forms of pure perception (of 'Brahman') are termed as
ऋक् / ṛk,  sāma / साम, / yajuḥ / यजुः
Are respectively  the same as :
ज्ञान / jñāna, भक्ति / bhakti, and कर्म / karma
And the three aspects of the same approach धर्म  /  dharma >  ācāra + vicāra, that one has to follow for attaining the Ultimate Reality.
--
ज्ञान / jñāna, is ऋक् / ṛk, that is dirct perception of The Reality / Brahman,  

sāma / साम, is भक्ति / bhakti, that is devotion to the same Reality and is performed by way of singing the praise of The lord.

yajuḥ / यजुः is the ritual form of worshiping The Lord.

And thus discharging one's duties as prescribed by the scriptures with due respect and sincerity also results in the propitiating Him.

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We have been told that There are 4 'Vedas'.

That Classification is meant for another purpose.

Moreover whatever is there that is in the Fourth Veda, namely  'अथर्व' / 'atharva' could be found in the 3  other Veda-s. So 'अथर्व' / 'atharva' has been formed / restructured only from the 'mantra-s' of those 3 earlier texts.

As 'Veda' is not literally a book / text, but the 'knowledge' in its purest form, It is There ever in existence and becomes 'manifest and disappears again and again.

What we call 'आकाशिक - रेकॉर्ड्स' / 'AkAshika Records'.

As is this 'Veda' the 'Cosmic Memory' / 'Knowledge', that helps ब्रह्मा / brahmā  in every successive 'सृष्टि' / 'sR^ShTi', just so  is there 'पुराण' / 'purANa', that is the 'Cosmic Memory' / 'Knowledge' that is the basis for appearance and disappearance of the whole phenomenal existence.

--

Again there is another triad, namely the 'puruSha' That too manifests in multiplicity of infinite 'creatures', each and every-one of whom is 'perfect' in its own existence.

This ' युगपत् सृष्टि / प्रलय' / 'yugapat  sR^ShTi / pralaya' / Simultaneous manifestation and dissolution at three levels of world, soul and Totality / Self on one hand, and the 'person', 'individual', and the Lord as the Cosmic Intelligence Principle on the other, is the One Single movement which has no beginning or end. 

Again There are intermediate 'existences' / adjuncts / spiritual entities that are instrumental in carrying out this whole 'program' incessantly. 

Thus a man by his actions (yajna) can ascend to superior Realms of 'devata', who look after at the subtle levels of existence. They too have a finite 'life' and once that period is over, they return on the plane of mortals and have to go through the all the troubles so long as they are not freed from ignorance.

This 'devatA' principle is therefore not a 'concept' or premise, but a formal utility, which enables the life more smooth and helps every-one to mature.

This may be interesting to see that though these 'devata' are not the Supreme Authority but have to live their 'life' through performing their roles in granting wishes of humans, who seek pleasures of swarga or riddance from pains.

But there are men pure enough and mature, who seek The Supreme Lord only, even though worshiping these 'devata'. And they attain Him through devoting to these 'devatA', who themselves are not free from sorrow and 'rebirth'.

So these 'devatA' maintain the order at the subtle level.

--

When we study 'purANa' we see the same 'Truth' of the play of the Existence through the eye of an individual, who is also a 'person' and an 'indivisibility' also at the same time. So what happens for one is never true for any other, but as a 'collective-truth', it is ever so true.

And so we find the 18 major 'purANa' narrate the play of manifestation (sR^ShTi) and  dissolution (pralaya) in different ways.

-- 

Then we also fail in grasping the language of the 'purANa', for the simple reason that we have no direct access to the 'story' and the 'characters' they talk about. We doubt if 'pR^thivI' the 'Earth' could be (a) 'devI' / 'devatA'.

As was said earlier, 'devatA' is but a principle, though conscious-one like us, If we see that 'pR^thivI means the 'Earth' is but the same thing that is known to a physicist as 'gravity', or 'agni' / Fire is the principle that is Light / Heat, we could instantly understand what purANa tell us in their narration of phenomenal events. And these events are not centered around you or me or some person, but is with reference to all and totality as well. Seeking their meaning in 'my' or 'your' past is but a great effort in vain.

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