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three times to understand them better
More about the
Vedas
People assigned a date to the
Vedas that they were composed in so and so year etc. The Vedas are eternal; the
scriptures tell us that the Vedas have existed even before creation. In fact,
they say, Brahma performed his function of creation with the aid of Vedic
mantras, first came the universe of sound and then the visible universe. So it is not possible to tell the age of the
Vedas. If we say that an object is "anadi" it means that nothing
existed before it
The Bahma alone knows the Vedas
in their entirety; the Vedas themselves proclaim that the “Vedas are endless”.
We cannot claim that all the Vedas have been revealed to the seers. Only about
a thousand sakhas or recensions belonging to the four Vedas have been revealed
to them. The Vedas themselves are called "Brahma" and his wife is also
called Ved Mata (mother of the Vedas) that is why one who learns them (the
student) is called a "brahmachari"—Brahma also meaning Vedas and
charya meaning to follow, going after
The Vedas are Apauruṣeya, (purush
meaning man hence apauruseya means "not of a man" not the work of any
human author), Since the Mantras are associated with the names of sages, we
make the wrong inference that they may have been composed by them, it is not
so, the sages because of their spiritual
power were able to perceive them and gift them to the World, because all
Vedas have one common goal that is the well-being of the entire world and all
creatures living in it, and the uplift of the Self of each one of us and its
everlasting union with the Ultimate Reality
There are mantras that are
especially valuable for their sound but are otherwise meaningless. Similarly
there are works pregnant with meaning but with no mantrik power. The glory of
the Vedas is that they are a collection of mantras that are at once notable as
much for the energising character of their sound as for the lofty truths they
proclaim.
Similarly, the Vedas serve a
twofold purpose: while they have the mantrik power to do immense good to each
one of us and too the world, they also contain teachings embodying great metaphysical
truths.
The sounds of the Vedas are the
language of the birds and hence they can never be written down; Click on the
link to read
There are only a
few true Brahmi’s left?
In India the caste (varna) system
is deep rooted; the so called “Brahmins” or pundits as they are still called
keep repeating endlessly that “I am a Brahmin” they do this whenever they get a
chance
The caste system went on for
thousands of years and it had it advantages; there was a system in society
whereby all people worked as per their roles with sincerity and they were
careful as to not do anything by which they would be thrown out of their
society, apart from pride, there was a sense of fulfilment among members of
each jati (caste) in pursuing the vocation
The Brahmins occupied the top position;
they were the custodians of the Vedas, they conducted the Vedic ceremonies and
were a link between the Earth and higher realms, they offered sacrifices (Vedic
fire ceremonies) whereby they nourished the celestial beings and in turn
humanity was blessed, they guided all others in the true way of living as
prescribed in the Vedas, they were the true teachers and guides of society
They lead a simple and pure life,
never hoarding anything, but as time went by their standards completely deteriorated.
Their greed had no end; they made rules to appropriate wealth and those who
were once the custodians of the Vedas and truth became the custodians of the
ill-gotten wealth. They hid the truth and made their own dogmas and hence they
reserved the study of the Vedas only for Brahmins, so that the wrong they
preached for their own benefit would not be known to others
They who were giants in knowledge
also became giants in evil
Read this article, where the
degradation of the Brahmins is explained (click on it)
A hymn from the Rig Veda seems to
indicate that one's caste is not necessarily determined by that of one's
family:
Rig Veda 9.112.3
—I am a bard, my
father is a physician, my mother's job is to grind the corn.
In the Chandogya Upanishad there
is the story of Satyakama Jabala as a boy, eager for knowledge; Satyakama goes
to the sage Haridrumata Gautama, requesting him to live in his school for
Brahmacharya. The teacher asks, "My dear child, what family do you come
from?" Satyakama replies that he is of uncertain parentage because his
mother does not know who the father is, she told him just be known as my son,
the son of Jabala. The sage declares that the boy's honesty is the mark of a
"Brahmaṇa, true seeker of
the knowledge of the Brahman and accepts him as a student in his school, later
the boy becomes a Vedic Sage. This story also clearly indicates that caste is
not defined by birth
The British rule brought about
modernization in India but completely destroyed the moral fabric of the Indian
society. Whatever little culture was remaining in the Brahmin families was
totally destroyed when they opted for other jobs which were offered to them
(because they were intelligent) and they got attracted to luxuries and changed
their occupation completely
So the next time you hear someone
proclaiming loudly that I am a Brahmin, tell him that he cannot say so because
he is not doing anything to fulfil the role of a true Brahmin, it is like that
a person saying that I am a carpenter because his fore fathers were carpenter’s
but he does not know anything about carpentry and hence not taken it as a full
time occupation
Even the dogs are true to their
breed, they are following their God given role of guarding since generations,
and the so called Brahmins have to learn something from the dogs
Shri Chandrashekarendra Saraswati
Swami who was the Shankaracharya of the Kanchi mutt travelled India wide for a
long time preaching that the Vedic culture must be brought again and he said
that the Brahmins have been responsible for the degradation of Religion, I
quote him from the various chapters of his book---if the Gayatri has not been
chanted for three generations in the family of a Brahmin, its members lose
caste (they cease to be Brahmins). The quarter where such Brahmins live cannot
be called an "agrahara" or the Brahmin has not performed the sacrifices
for three generations its members will
be called "Durbrahmanas", degenerated Brahmins, even though
degenerate the label "Brahmin" sticks to them. There are prayascittas
(expiatory rites) by means of which the corrupted Brahmins can be remade true
Brahmins. But there is no such hope for a Brahmin in whose family Gayatri has
not been chanted for three generations. A member of such a family ceases
altogether to be a Brahmin and cannot be made one again. The same rule applies
to Ksatriyas and Vaisyas with regard to the Gayatri mantra
It is so very
important to chant the Gayatri mantra
Now with hardly any
Brahmins left; how will we get the knowledge of the Vedas?
Sometimes there is so much of
contradiction in the various literatures that are available. Example some say
that except in Kali yuga, in the other three yugas it is permitted to sacrifice
an animal in certain types of Vedic ceremonies, while others say that in all
yugas it is strictly a taboo to conduct animal sacrifices and that the mention
of the animals are allegories and indicates, the development of great spiritual
power.
Since the Vedas are the highest
inspiration possible to the earthly man, so with no one to guide us, we can
receive the knowledge of the Vedas the way the sages received them---through our Hearts
A Purana says: " Tene Bramha
hrdaya Adikavaye" the Pramatman imparted the Vedas to Bramha through his
heart
The Bhagavata too, like the Gita,
does not state that the Lord created the Vedas. It declares that they occurred
in a flash in his heart that they came to him in a blaze of light. The word
used on this context is "Sphuranam", occurring as a flash
When the sages were meditating
the mantras of the Vedas appeared to them in a flash in their hearts
The Vedas never
proclaim that "This alone is the path"
Nor do they affirm, "This is
the only God" with reference to their own view of the Supreme Being.
Instead, they declare that, if one adheres to any path with faith or worships
any deity with devotion, one will be led towards the Truth.
The scripture of no other
religion speaks thus of the many paths to liberation. On the contrary, each of
them insists that the way shown by it alone will lead to liberation. The Vedas
alone give expression to the high-minded view that different people may take
different paths to discover the one and only Truth.
There are so many elaborated
ceremonies prescribed by the Vedas, but there is not a single mention of the
ceremony for conversion into the Vedic way of life, unlike Christianity, Islam
and Buddhism who are always eager to convert people to their respective
religions
This is because the Vedas are the
original, initial teachings and whatever has come into being is because of
their knowledge so they are the source of everything
Nothing is created by us; we just
invite it from the Vedas
Hence the religion of the Vedas
had no name; one has to give a name to differentiate between many others, later
on it came to be known as Sanatan Dharam and in recent times as Hinduism
The sounds of the Vedas remain
for ever in ether, as per our spiritual level the law of balance works and we
can invite them, but also remember all our sounds, what we speak (The sounds we
produce are never destroyed) and also all our thoughts also forever remain in
ether which affects the Destiny of this World, so we must be very careful with
the way we think and what we say
The sounds of the Vedas purify
the intellect, our thoughts and our environment
The Vedas are for everyone, not
limited to a political boundary; in India the sages were able to perceive them,
in some other country some saint must have given their teachings, and when a
scientist makes a discovery he gets the information from the Vedas which are
ever present in the ether and gives this theory to the World, and there is
absolutely nothing wrong if you give a different name to the intelligence which
is present in the ether instead of calling it the Vedas
Vedanta and Advaita
The Vedas talk about worship to
various elements, and the Vedic fire ceremonies are sacrifices to the deities,
when there is a worshiper and an object which is worshiped there exist duality,
Advaita which is also a Vedanta doctrine means nondual or not two and teaches
that the soul (true Self) is the same as the highest metaphysical reality, some
people see a contradiction in this; no there is no contradiction
Our scriptures tell us that a person’s
life is split into four stages called the four asramas, they are: Brahmacharya
(student), Grihastha (householder), Vanaprastha (means going to the forest
after completing all responsibilities) and Sannyasa (renunciation).
He studies the Vedas as a
student, he conducts the Vedic ceremonies as a householder, understand this
very well that the Vedic ceremonies are for the householder and not for the renunciate
(unlike other religions where the male priest conducts the ceremony the Vedic
fire ceremony is conducted by the husband and wife together and the fire is lit
by rubbing two pieces of wood), then comes the stage where the person retires
to the forest, and starts learning the higher teachings of the Vedanta whereby
he learns that he is no different from the one that created him
Aitareya Upanisad of the Rig Veda
declares that--- Prajnanam Brahma “The Brahman means realising the jnana that
is the highest”
Brhadaranyaka Upanisad of the
Yajurveda declares that --- Aham Brahmasmi “I am the Brahman”
Chandogya Upanisad of the
samaveda declares that --- Tat tvam asi “That thou art” or “the Paramatman and you are
the one and the same”
Mandukya Upanisad of the
Atharvaveda declares that --- Ayam Atma Brahma “This Self is the Brahman”
And finally the last stage of renunciation,
where he performs no Vedic ceremonies, he has realized his true self and his
very existence is a blessing to the World
This is the stage what Lord
Krishna explains in the Gita: The Vedas are associated with the three qualities
of sattva, rajas and tamas. You must transcend these three qualities. Full of
desire, they (the practitioners of Vedic rituals) long for paradise and keep
thinking of pleasures and material prosperity. They are born again and again
and their minds are never fixed in samadhi, these men clinging to Vedic rituals.
“In another passage Krsna declares: "Not by the Vedas am I to be not
realised, nor by sacrifices nor by much study . . . .”
This does not mean that Lord
Krishna is against the Vedas like Buddha and Mahavira, he wants the beings to
get self-realization and reach the highest goal of the merger with that
Almighty; the very reason of the existence of everything; and to come to this
stage one has to pass through various stages as prescribed in the Vedas, now a
days people directly jump to the Advaita
Vedanta and declare “I am He”
The Vedas also say this : Brhadaranyaka
Upanisad---"He who becomes aware of the nature of the Atman - for him the Vedas
will no longer be Vedas, the gods will cease to be gods, Brahmins will no
longer be, Brahmins. . . . . . . ".
Vedokhilo
dharmaulam; Dharmo rakshati rakshitah - the Vedas are the
root of all Dharma;
Dharma protected, protects.
Like the story in the final
chapter of the Mahabharata where the God Dharma takes the form of a dog and
walks behind Yudhisthira (who never abandoned Dharma) in his last moments on
Earth
This Upanisad describes a person
who performs Vedic rites for ephemeral enjoyments, mundane benefits, as a mere
beast (pasu).
Since the word pasu has come up
let me tell you something—pasu means an animal, Rudra (Shiva as all call him) is
also called pashu-pati (the Lord of the pashu), that does not literally mean he
is the lord of animals, it means the one who has conquered his animal nature (there
is the famous Pasupatinath temple in Nepal)
The word "pasu" is very
meaningful here. In a allegorical sense it means one who does not possess the
sixth sense of a human and lives on an animal level, now a days we say that
only animals have sixth sense; how degraded humans have become
So long as a JIva revolves in the
quagmire of the senses and their natural attractions, the JIva is nothing but
an animal (pashu). That is when the bond of ‘karma’ anchors him to the concept of ‘janma’ (birth and death).
It is that bond that is called ‘pAshaM’. It makes him revolve again and again in the samsAra cycle.
It is the sword of jnAna that cuts it asunder. And then he is no more a pashu. He becomes Shiva, the pashu-pati (the
Lord of the pashu).
Now, I would like to tell
something to my readers, please know this; that Gratitude has the most
colourful vibrations
Photo of a boy who
receives new shoes during WW ii; look at the Gratitude on his face
Apart from India most of my
readers are from USA and Russia, every day I see the statistics of the people
who visit the blog.
It takes a lot of time to write
articles, but no one has the gratitude to leave a comment, or interact, share,
they just come, read and leave; I feel good that I am spreading the truth via
this blog, even if a change is brought in one person after reading my blog it
is a matter of great joy for me; I am telling you this because you are on the
spiritual path and it would be good for you all if you can come out of this
selfish attitude
I learn something new every day
and would have liked to have a group on Facebook where knowledge would be
shared, but with 16 followers of this blog there would not be any interaction,
only if people would have shown some interest we could have gained more
My best wishes to you all
A doha of Sant Kabir:
मीठा सब कोई खात है, विष है लागे धायनीम ना कोई पीवसी, सब रोग मिट जाय
Mitha Sab Koi Khaat Hai Vish Hai Laage
Dhaay Neem Na Koi Peevasi Sabe Rog Mit Jaay
Everyone likes eating sugar. This results
in spreading of poison in the body. None likes to drink juice of Neem leaves
(which is bitter) this can cure the body from all diseases.
I have made changes to this
article (click on link)
