Modern Age and Vedas.

[rahulbshah]

“Who says 21st century is ‘Kaliyug’? In fact it’s a period of great opportunity to understand ‘Vedas’ scientifically and Science through ‘Vedas’.”

Till now I have heard that ‘Greatness of India lies in its Great Culture, but now I realized that Greatness of India truly lies in its Great Culture’. And this must be the reason which enforced Lord Macaulay Saying "I have traveled across the length and breadth of India and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief. Such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such calibre, that I do not think we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage, and, therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self-esteem, their native self-culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation."Science and Technology are advancing day by day to fulfill, to satisfy the needs (greed) of Human Beings. Science assures that it has made men’s life much easier and simpler through various technologies emerging daily. Man can reach the other, within fraction of seconds through ultra fast communication systems. Man can live at his luxury with no efforts. And India is no more farther than few developed countries.

But all these luxuries, facilities at cost of ‘Something’. And that ‘Something’ plays an important role in decaying the human life all over the world. More luxurious the man, more lazy he is. The medical science is growing by heaps and bounds and so are the newly born diseases. Though man gets pleasure through latest entertainment gadgets, the cases of nervous breakdown, suicides increase day by day. Though man gets richer and richer through newly entertained business, so is Insomnia. So are worries and so are tensions. Then what can this evil ‘Something’ be?

And here science fails to answer it! Because the answer lies much deeper in ‘Dharma’ and ‘Bhakti’, not in the religion (so called ‘Dharma’) existing today but in the roots of Vedic ‘Dharma’. And this ‘Dharma’ comes from the Great ‘Vedas’. These great four ‘Vedas’ namely ‘Rig Veda’, ‘Sama Veda’ ‘Yajur Veda’, and ‘Atharva Veda’ are not any invention but discoveries. A discovery made by our Rushes (Philosophers, as they are called westerly) and formulated in to life preaching ‘Vedas’. It is said that these ‘Vedas’ were created by the Ultimate Power (Almighty or ‘Brahma’) as a life manual, at the same time while he created this universe. ‘Brahma’ is above Space and Time, i.e. not bounded by Space and Time. (This is Philosophy ‘Tattwagyana’ and so we won’t go much deeper into it.)But finally Brahma created ‘Vedas’ as a manual for the human beings of this Infinite Universe. So we can imagine how ancient these ‘Vedas’ must be. But the surprising fact is that, these ‘Vedas’ are totally logical and philosophical. Surprising because, how literature that is discovered thousands of year back, be so logical? Even Science and Technology, which are developed very recently (as compared to ‘Vedas’) finds faults and doubts in few theories and few inventions. Few theories are still questionable. My mind really stopped working on this big ‘HOW’!!! But it’s a fact that ‘Vedas’ are great, 100% true and will remain great forever. Let’s just accept this fact. (And in case any one is able to find an answer to this big ‘HOW’, then please let me know!)

Now lets see what these ‘Vedas’ are and how great these are? Even the Oxford Dictionary describes ‘Vedas’ as the most ancient Hindu Scriptures. Well if they are most ancient Hindu Scriptures then definitely they are the most ancient World Literatures, since Hindu Religion is believed to the World’s oldest and most ancient religion. ‘Vedas’ shows us the way of living a good, healthy, unpolluted life. ‘Vedas’ have solutions to each and every problem existing today whether it may be philosophical, religious, scientific, economical, social etc. Even we use ‘Vedas’ in forms such as Vedic Mathematics, Ayur’veda’, Astrophysics etc. Ayurveda claims that it is capable of curing any disease without the help of allopathic drugs. Though the effect may take some time, it is permanent. Even from Vedic Mathematics we can understand greatness of ‘Vedas’. Now when mathematics is considered to be the first step before any scientific invention and since many western philosophers also believe that this universe is in the form of numbers, including Pythagoras, we can easily say that ‘Vedas’ having a strong base of Mathematics are the final solution to any of the problem existing today or even in future. May be because of this, Will Durant had translated ‘Vedas’ in English and said, “India was the mother of our race and Sanskrit the mother of Europe's languages. She was the mother of our philosophy, mother through the Arabs, of much of our mathematics, mother through Buddha, of the ideals embodied in Christianity, mother through village communities of self-government and democracy. Mother India is in many ways the mother of us all.”

And Swami Dayanand Saraswati said “Back to Vedas.”

Now the question is for whom these ‘Vedas’ are meant for studying? And how should these ‘Big Books’ be studied?

Let’s see the answer of the second question first. ‘Vedas’ are definitely difficult to study by a common man, firstly because their original form is in Sanskrit and secondly because they are highly philosophical. But even to this Indian culture has the solutions. Our Rushis and Saints knew about this problem and hence they have given us the solution in the simpler form of the ‘Vedas’, through Smritis, Upnishads and Purans. Even ‘Srimad Bhagvad Gita’ is the form of ‘Vedas’. ‘Vedas’ remain unchanged with time hence they are considered to be the final authority. Then come Smritis which can change from age to age. Down the link comes History, and then Puran. Now it’s hard to believe blindly in History and Puran since these totally depends upon who writes those and with what intention. For e.g. we are not taught the real Indian History, i.e. the facts about India-Pakistan Separation are not yet revealed in School History books. So the final authority is ‘Vedas’. Now Upnishads are also the form of ‘Vedas’ but somewhat diluted, i.e. Upnishads preaches strong ‘Vedas’ in diluted form. But still they are bit difficult for common men like us to study. And here comes the importance and need of our ‘Dharma-Gurus’ who teaches us the preaches of these ‘Vedas’ and Upnishads in a very simple and understandable language (Though today Dharma Gurus are not performing their Duties (Dharma) well, but originally the Brahmans were meant for the purpose of Education only).

Now comes the second question, who should study ‘‘Vedas’’? Today, it’s a general belief in people’s mind that ‘Dharma’, and ‘Bhakti’ are meant for the old age people only or for those after retirement, since today’s youth don’t really know what exactly these are. Hence they run away from all these, try to find out other ways to enjoy life, which indeed are harmful to them on a long term. One reason behind all these is also the inclusion of superstitious Beliefs and Rituals in ‘Dharma’. And thus youth today, don’t find the need of such Ritualistic ‘Dharma’ in their life. But actually ‘Vedas’ and ‘Dharma’ are meant for the youth to study and understand. Youth has the capability of changing the flow of the wrong ‘Dharma’. Youth has the power to the Dharmic Corruption. The roots of each and every problem lies in the Dharmic Corruption, so in order to stop corruption (the biggest issue today) we need to study real ‘Dharma’ and let others know about the same. And the only option for these is through ‘Vedas’. ‘Vedas’ and Philosophy should be taught at School level. School students should be taught about the Importance of ‘Vedas’ and its greatness. Our former president and great Indian scientist Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam has once said that ‘India will be a super power by the year 2020 A.D.’. This statement can be made true only if Indian Youth come forward and picks up the real greatness of ‘Vedas’. It should be noted very clearly that Dr. Kalam, in spite of being a muslim read ‘Bhagwad Gita’. ‘Bhagwad Gita’ is not the scripture of Hinduism but it is indeed the Scripture of Humanity, as said by Rev. Pandurang Shashtri Athavale. Even the legendary scientist ‘Albert Einstein’ said ‘Science without God is nothing’. People and especially youth should think on it deeply.

This age when science has reached its extremities and is still developing every moment is rather not a Kaliyug. Instead it’s a period of great opportunity for the science students to find out the resemblance between the manly developed Science and the Godly developed ‘Vedas’, since ‘Vedas’ are highly logical and scientific. If Science and ‘Vedas’ are brought in together then definitely this world will be a better place to live in. Today youth should be very much clear that the country’s real development lies in its true culture. Trying to maintain its culture will automatically lead to country’s development. And especially Indian youth should be aware of the Great Indian Culture, and should know very well that it’s our duty to protect the Vedic Culture.

So lets go back to ‘Vedas’ and bring back the Richness of India so that India can again be called as ‘Sone ki Chidiyaan’.

 

[Breathe]

:namaste

Welcome to RF

 

[rahulbshah]

Thanks

 

[Wannabe Yogi]

But all these luxuries, facilities at cost of ‘Something’. And that ‘Something’ plays an important role in decaying the human life all over the world. More luxurious the man, more lazy he is. The medical science is growing by heaps and bounds and so are the newly born diseases. Though man gets pleasure through latest entertainment gadgets, the cases of nervous breakdown, suicides increase day by day. Though man gets richer and richer through newly entertained business, so is Insomnia. So are worries and so are tensions. Then what can this evil ‘Something’ be?

I would tend to agree with you. Modern life tends to create psychological instability in many people. Humans were meant to live in small groups 250 or less and have the need for meaning In their life. The Vedas set us on the path to find that meaning.

 

[rahulbshah]

I would tend to agree with you. Modern life tends to create psychological instability in many people. Humans were meant to live in small groups 250 or less and have the need for meaning In their life. The Vedas set us on the path to find that meaning.

Ya exactly, and now there is a need to spread the thoughts of Most Ancient Scriptures of World.

 

[Surya Deva]

I think you need to be specific by what you mean when you say Vedas. The term can refer to the Vedic period literature which consists of Samhitas, Brahmanas, Aranyakas, Upanishads or it may refer to just the samithas in the Rig, Atharva, Yajur and Sama veda.

The Vedic samhitas are the most controversial religious scriptures in the world to translate. All Sanskrit scholars have acknowledged how difficult it is to translate them, and how we still are not sure how good our translations are. This is because their language is archaic, they are full of symbolism and there various ways of reading them. This does not make them very popular texts with most people, most people prefer the Upanishads, Gita and the shastras for learning Vedic philosophy.

I agree that Vedic philosophy has massive parallels with modern science, and it can be confidently asserted that many things known to modern scientists today were known to Vedic philosophers in very impressive detail. However, this knowledge is not really described in the samhitas which are mainly just poetic hymns, most of this knowledge is to be found in the Upanishads and shastras which are in the form of discourse. In fact more so in the shastras. In the Vedas you merely find the germs of Vedic philosophy scattered about in hymns, but no explanations. This makes them a theological text as opposed to a philosophical or scientific text. In the Upanishads you find the first attempts at giving philosophical discourses using arguments and examples. In the shastras you find very detailed explanations, plenty examples, and formal logical arguments as well supporting empirical evidence. It is in this portion that we find the most scientific articulation of Vedic philosophy.