Vedic vs Vedantic

[Guest guest]

Namaste!

 

Most people think the Vedantic & Vedic philosophies are the same. Most

books that speak on Vedas actually talk about Vedantic. Some sects

take the Puranas as Vedic philosophy, & quote Puranic sholkas as

Vedic, else they twist Vedic Shlokas all out of context to prove their

Ishta Devta is superior to all others.

 

Vedant, as most people understand it, is the philosophy of the

Upanishads, especially the 10 Shankaracharya said were the main.

Shankar dismissed all the older Vedic texts as ritualistic & useless

for Sadhna.

 

But the Upanishads are based on the Vedas teachings, as they proclaim

several times. So its a bit of a stretch to claim all the older Vedic

knowledge is useless. The same Shloka in the Upanishads in interpreted

in spiritual terms, while in Vedas it is interpreted ritually. This is

done even by Hindus, so we cant blame others when they think the same way.

 

The Vedic Rishis were Intuitive people- they saw a something Great &

Beautiful, which they tried to share in poetic language. They didnt

follow logics or rules, as these things are alien to the Intuitive

Mind. The Upanishads were written for later people, who couldnt

understand the pure intuitive approach, & needed some logics too.

 

Buddha & Shankar( & other Vedantis like Ramanajun, Madhav) were purely

logical people, who couldnt understand the intuitive approach of the

Vedas, which caused them to dismiss them out of hand. But this shows

their own ignorance & lack of spiritual development, & not any failing

in the Vedas.

This makes it even harder to believe(as many people say) that Buddha &

Shankar were Avtaars of Vishnu & Shiv repectively.

 

It is only in the 20th century, that Sri Aurobindo, & a few of his

followers, like Kapali Shastry, MP Pandit,Dr R L Kashyap, Dr David

Frawley, have started retranslating the Vedas from a spiritual view.

 

But its an uphill task, as even most Hindus have a poor view of the

Vedas, & think only the Upanishads & later books are the spiritual

texts of India.

 

love

Shantnu