This “zest for life, indifference towards inferiors & master morality=bedic essence” thinking is very common among edgelords these days. Partially motivated by the projection of their resentment towards current social welfare excesses on the Devas.
These circumstances explain the vitriol of some towards a post on Bhīșma’s discourse that critiques the enjoyment of forced labour/indentured servitude on the grounds of compassion.
Meanwhile, actual Rgveda: 10.25.11b:
nīcā santam ud anayaḥ parāvṛjam prāndhaṃ śroṇaṃ śravayan sāsy ukthyaḥ ||
Indra (edgelords’ favorite) is described as one who lifts & leads up the wretched man from his rock-bottom state, one who makes the blind and cripple whole again.
Indra was so moved by one calf’s suffering at the hands of a farmer that he made it rain copiously, so that the farmer will have no choice but to flee & out an end to his abuse of the young bull:
Skt: http://sacred-texts.com/hin/mbs/mbs03010.htm Eng: http://sacred-texts.com/hin/m03/m03009.htm
Leave it to the edgelords and they will irreversibly ruin the image & glory of our Devas & great religion.
Having said that, of course Vedas aren’t just limited to amoral materialistic “zest for life”. They espouse a noble ethics and spirituality. And certainly they can’t be said that Western philosophy “better preserve” the spirit of Vedas. It doesn’t.
Yes, that’s the point I wanted to make as well. I included “zest for life” as a critique of the reductive reading of the Veda. Further, in a war for survival, master & slave moralities do not come into play.
Further, in the single most famous account of a cattle raid in the RV, the “victims” of the theft—the Paņis—are portrayed as trying to monopolise the cattle for themselves at the expense of others.
Someone may even find here an expression of a “slave morality revolt” (the culture of sharing) against master morality (winner takes all).