Questions (Veda)

[Guest guest]

Om Sri Sai Raam Elleshji,

 

I hope everyone's doing well with Swami's grace and blessings.

I do hope I can answer some of your questions..

 

Regarding the Vedas:

Veda means knowledge. The original knowledge is the teachings of

the Vedas. In the conditioned state our knowledge is subjected to many

deficiencies. There are four defects that a conditioned soul has:

committing mistakes, subject to illusion, cheating propensity and

imperfect senses. These deficiencies make us unfit for having perfect

knowledge. Therefore we accept the Vedas as they are.

 

Vedas are apauruseya, which means they are not compilations of

human knowledge. Vedic knowledge comes from the spiritual world, from Lord

Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In the beginning the first

living creature was Brahma. He received the Vedic knowledge from Krishna.

 

Vedas are compared to desire tree because they contain all things

knowable by man. They deal with mundane necessities as well as spiritual

realization. Above and beyond all departments of knowledge there are

specific directions for spiritual realization. Regulated knowledge

involves a gradual raising of the living entity to the spiritual platform,

through varna (brahmana - intellectual, ksatriya - ruler, vaisya -

merchant, sudra - worker) and asrama (brahmacarya - student, grhastha -

family, vanaprastha - retired, sannyasa - mendicant). The highest

spiritual realization is knowledge that the Personality of Godhead is the

reservoir of all pleasures, spiritual tastes.

 

Formerly there was only the Veda of the name Yajur. The sacrifices

mentioned in the Vedas were means by which the people's occupations

according to their orders of life (namely brahmacarya, grhastha,

vanaprastha and sannyasa) could be purified. To simplify the process and

make them more easily performable, Vyasadeva (the empowered incarnation of

Krsna) divided the one Veda into four, Rg (prayers), Yajur (hymns for

oblations), Sama (same prayers and hymns in meters for singing), Atharva

(body/world mainte nance and destruction) in order to expand them among

men.

 

Thus the original source of knowledge is the Vedas. There are no

branches of knowledge either mundane or transcendental, which do not

belong to the original texts of the Vedas. They have simply been developed

into different branches. They were originally rendered by great seers. In

other words, the Vedic knowledge broken into different branches by

different disciplic successions (known as sakhas) has been distributed all

over the world. No one, therefore, can claim independent knowledge beyond

the Vedas.

 

The texts of the Vedas are known as Samhitas. Within these

Samhitas there are portions known as Mantras, which contain prayers in the

form of potent sound compounds revealed to great seers for different

purposes. In the Vedic civilization three orders of life lived in the

forests. Only grhasthas inhabited the cities. The regulated knowledge for

living in the city, is revealed in the books known as Brahmanas, whereas

the regulated knowledge for living in the forest is revealed in the books

known as Aranyakas.

 

 

 

Swami prefers the Vedas because:

It represents the Absolute Truth is one, but some accept the Absolute Truth

as impersonal Brahman, some accept the Absolute Truth as the localized

Paramatma, or Supersoul, and some accept the Absolute Truth as the Supreme

Personality of Godhead, Krsna or Visnu /Sai.

The material platform of goodness can be contaminated by the other two

qualities, namely passion and ignorance. For example, a pure brahmana is on

the platform of goodness. He is truthful, tolerant, and full of knowledge,

he controls his mind and senses, and so on. These are brahminical

qualifications. But sometimes the brahminical qualifiications become

contaminated by passion and ignorance. Today we see that many people from

brahminical families have been contaminated by passion and ignorance.

So material goodness can be attacked by the other two qualities, and a

person on the platform of material goodness may fall down. But when you

transcend the material platform of goodness and come to the transcendental

platform of goodness, you cannot fall down. Sattvam visuddham

vasudeva-sabditam. Sattva, existence of pure goodness, is called Vasudeva.

In that pure, transcendental platform of goodness you can understand

Vaasudeva, Krsna. Vaasudeva is already within your heart, but you realize

His presence by placing yourself on the platform of pure consciousness.

 

Radhey Of Canada.

[Guest guest]

The Vedic scriptures are the spiritual literature of the ancient

Indian culture. They consist of a huge collection of books written

in the Sanskrit language that includes material (mundane), religious

(ritualistic), and spiritual(monotheistic) knowledge. The word

"Vedic" is derived from the Sanskrit word veda, meaning

knowledge or revelation. According to Vedic history, these scriptures

were written down about 5000 years ago. This date is not accepted

in modern Indology, but the date is in fact not very important,

because the knowledge in these scriptuires existed long before

it was written down.

The Veda is understood by simply accepting what the Veda says

about itself. This Vedic self-understanding may be amazing or

even unbelievable to the modern reader, but the different opinions

about the origin and history of the Vedic scriptures are due

to a fundamental difference in world views between the followers

of the Veda and modern mundane scholars.

According to the Indological world view, "Vedic Scripture"

doesn't even exist. Modern Indology says that the collection

of books mentioned in this article is not a consistent body of

knowledge but a mere accumulation of texts from different sources.

Indology claims that they were written over a long period, starting

after the hypothetical Aryan invasion into the Indian subcontinent,

about 1000 to 1500 B.C., when the mixture of tribes formed a

"Vedic" culture. If we believe this scenario, then

it is natural to think that the Indian scriptures are a mass

of unsystematic, mythological texts.

The Vedic scriptures maintain a completely different version-one

of ancient cultures, timeless revelations, and divine incarnations.

The entire body of Vedic knowledge has a systematic structure

and a clearly-defined goal, being compiled by Vedic rishis (sages)

headed by Vyasadeva- the literary incarnation of Lord Krishna.

About 5000 years ago these sages systematically wrote down this

knowledge to prevent it from being lost in the upcoming Kali-yuga,

the Iron Age of quarrel and hypocrisy, the most fallen in the

cycle of ages.

The structure of the Vedic scriptures can be compared to a

staircase with many steps, with specific scriptures corresponding

to each step. The Vedic scriptures describe both the goal and

the steps leading up to this goal. They are nonsectarian because

they respect people of all "steps", encouraging everyone

to progress to the next step. There is no converting or pushing,

because everyone has to walk for himself. As the Vedic saying

goes, "Even in a flock of birds, each bird has to fly for

itself."

Individual evolution is not limited to one life. The Vedic

understanding of reincarnation declares that the steps of this

symbolical staircase can also be understood as lifetimes. The

almost proverbial "Hindu" tolerance is based on a solid

philosophical understanding and shouldn't be confused with merging,

indifference or "everything is one."

Superficially, the Vedic scriptures may appear to be unsystematic

and even contradictory, but this impression can easily be reconciled

by finding out how each step is connected with the goal.

The Four Vedas

Known as Rig, Yajur, Sama, and Atharva, the four Vedas are

usually labeled as the original Vedic scriptures. Rig means ritual,

and this Veda contains mainly hymns and prayers (mantras) for

the worship of the universal forces known as the demigods. Yajur

means ceremony, and this Veda mainly describes how to perform

the rituals. Sama means singing, and this Veda contains many

other mantras and strict rules how to chant these mantras according

to mystic vibrations. Atharva means the priest who knows the

secret lore, and this Veda describes many different kinds of

worship and invocations. In a broader sense, the Atharva also

includes scriptures of material knowledge, like the Ayur-Veda(pharmacology

and health).

The purpose of these teachings is to encourage one to understand

that one is not an independent entity but a part of a universal

body that depends on many higher forces. The most important lesson

from these four Vedas is to accept higher authorities. By linking

up with the divine forces through ritual and understanding, one

profits materially and experiences peace and harmony.

On 05/07/05, Ellesh Dasari <elleshd > wrote:

1) what is veda?

2) Impartance of Vedas for a person?

3) Why swamy prefer Vedas?

Thanks,

Ellesh Dasari

Pune-India

9325060812