Sadhaka: This is rather complicated to me. Is there no other way of explaining the importance of this Veda by some worldly metaphor which is more easily comprehensible?

Sai: Well, Listen. The Atharva Veda is a huge tree, of which the Rg. Yajur and Sama Vedas are the trunk and branches and the Smrithis and Puranas, the leaves. One Sun (Adithya) is worshipped in the Yajur Veda as Yajuh, in the Sama Veda as Saama, in the Rg Veda as Oordhva and in the Atharva Veda as Yaathu.

Sadhaka: What does the Atharva mean?

Sai: It means a steady, unmoved person, one who is of stable nature. Atharva is also widely identified in the Veda as Praana-atma, (the superconsciousness that activates the vital airs) and Prajapathi (the ruler of all beings born). As the former, it is also denoted as Prana-pathi. This Prajapathi is credited with the achievement of first churning sparks of the fire and making fire manifest. Of the Vedas, each of the three is at some time or other recognised as the first but, so far as the last is concerned, the Atharva is always uttered as such.

Sadhaka: How many forms are ascribed to God (Parameshvara, the Supreme God) in this Veda?

Sai: "Yaatho Rudrassivaathanoraghora Paapa naasinee", it is said. That is to say, God is described as having two distinguishable forms - the serene and the terrible.

Sadhaka: I crave for illustration by examples.

Sai: The Narasimha form of God that emerged from the Pillar was mild and serene, beautiful and beneficent for Prahlada, the staunch devotee, and at the same time, the form was terrible for Hiranyakasipu, the father, who hated God to the utmost. Well, even Nature, the concretisation of the will power of God, has these two aspects the mild and the fearful. Water is an essential ingredient for sustaining life in beings. It is vital and health-giving as well as fatal and death-dealing.