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The Vedas: Introduction and Contemplation
by Swami Nityamuktananda
You know that the Vedas are the original scriptures or "source" of the tradition we call Hinduism! This sentence has already several issues in it, we need to clarify:
The most obvious is the assumption, that there is something like "Hinduism".
Although the word is used today, it is also considered incorrect. The term does not correctly refer to the culture, religion or philosophy.
For many inhabitants the old name of the land is "Bhãrata" ( after an ancient king) and the base of religions and philosophy is the "sanãtana dharma"; (the "eternal law"), which has its roots in the Vedas.The nature of these source scriptures is totally different from any other so called religious books, such as the Bible, Koran and the Grant Sahib or the Dhamapada… they all have either historical events or the teachings of one or more person, which often they refer to as prophets or giver of wisdom, at their root.
In the Vedas, we find observation of nature; we find poetical descriptions of universal principals according which life unfolds.
The laws themselves were observed, experienced and "checked out" by the ancient sages using not laboratories in the present scientific sense, but their sharpened minds to explore the world inside and out!
They gathered their wisdom in Meditation, thus are sometimes, descriptively called: inner scientists. They lived in the vast area below and within the Himalayas.
They never asked anybody to believe anything… hence they never created a religion ( re-ligio = to bind to something); in fact they encouraged people to look, inquire and observe themselves, to find the answers to their question !
Philosophy, scriptures, knowledge and testament of the ancients - were meant as road-maps to understand ourselves and the universe we live in. Road-maps have to be followed by one’s own experience!
The Vedas, unlike other books or scriptures as said to be: "not authored".
"Author" is the one, on who gives his authority to what is written. The sacred books of the major religions have one or more authors, who lived and taught at
a certain time - before that time, their knowledge, their teachings were not available.
This is what we expect, but it’s not true for "the Vedas!"
The word Veda…actually means knowledge. So Vedas are knowledge… about the universe and beyond. There are a number of classical Vedic scriptures, most say 18 in number, and of these four are classically called "the Vedas"; they are the oldest and of these the Rig Veda is oldest!
What are these four about?
They contain observations of the universe, cosmic laws and principals. The intention to live in harmony with these cosmic laws then results in practical suggestions, showing ways in which we can live in harmony with these, which is called living according to the eternal dharma.
These eternal laws and the eternal dharma were re-interpreted during times of declining of the culture, hence several waves of such scriptures. The original four are:
The Rg…. Yayur… Sama… and Atharva Veda.
The Rig, ( the word means hymn ; praise ) is the oldest and most poetical.
It contains hymns about the various observed aspects of creation; such as a hymn to fire, the sun, to water, to breath etc. and ends with a prayer:
Let all men meet and think as with one mind. Let all hearts unite in love; Let the goal be common. May all live in happiness with a common purpose.
"wise man honour it because it describes how to live in harmony with all."
The Yayur and Sama Veda are collections of mantras used for rituals by priest.
The root of the word Yayur, refers to worship, and so it spells out the rituals necessary to maintain balance in the universe, by Yajna; worship.
The goal of this, especially of the verses of the Saama Veda is to bring shanti or peace to the mind. The way to do it is by "conquering the enemy by love and conciliatory words".
They are there to enchant, thus many mantras here are set to music! In fact the whole Indian music and language system is set out here. The Atharva Veda holds mantras to ward of evil and hardship and to destroy enemies.; the mantras are in prose and verse. They also contain hymns about creation;
and many verses that are in similar forms contained in the other Vedas.
Most of the original wisdom of the Rig Veda has its first interpretation in the Aitrareya Brahmana. We find enormously modern cosmic statements.
"The sun does never set nor rise. When people think the sun is setting,
it is not so. For after having arrived at the end of the day, it makes itself produce two opposite effects, making night, to what is below and day to what is the other side. …having reached the end of the night, it again has to opposite effects, making day to what is below and night to what is on the other side. In fact the sun never sets!….."
Now this shows knowledge that the earth rotates and the sun shines always. Such advanced knowledge of cosmic bodies, we imagine to be recent history.
"In all the oceans, the water remains the same at all times in quantity and never decreases or diminishes; but like the water in a caldron, which in consequence of its combination of heat, expands…so the waters of the ocean swell with the increase of the moon. The waters , although really neither more nor less, dilate or contract as the moon increases or wanes in the light and dark fortnights.!"
To make these statements the people had to have known about earth-rotation.
In other places there are references to the earth being flattened at the poles and bulging in the middle……..something only recently discovered in "our world."
The ancient scientists knew about the oscillation of the universe, an expanding and contracting universe. The knowledge clad in these hymns is truly astounding; and makes clear that these hymns were not religious prayers, but scientific or astronomical discoveries, preserved in a poetic style so as to remember them easier (oral tradition).
So far so good!
As we said: these scriptures deal not with historical events, but contain observations about the universe, akin to the laws of science and their application. There can be no doubt, these hymns must have been composed by a very intelligent advanced, civilised people. Yet we have no author-ship? Why?
When we say "Columbus discovered America"; we know that America was there before – Columbus simply brought to notice to the rest of the world, what was already there. In this way, the contents of the Vedas was always already there. The Rishi’s merely "discovered" the laws, simply made them known, brought them to our notice.
So the Vedas, the knowledge collected in the books of the same name, are time-less; they are said to be beginning-less and extend before the known history, even before creation itself!
What does that mean? Just romantic exaggeration ???? We can’t even remember what happened on this day - one year ago. The scriptures are said to date back 10 000 years or so….does "timeless"…simply mean more than anyone can remember?
What can it mean?
Time itself does not exist as such, it relates only to a sequence of events that happen in space. Where there is no feeling or knowledge of sequence of events for our mind to follow- time looses its meaning. The bigger the gaps between events - the more meaningless time. So thousands of years, beyond our experience and ken, is not perceivable, our mind does not stretch that far back!!!!
And that is, it: "timeless or beginning-less" stretches beyond our mental capabilities.
It refers to a realm that is not understandable by our mind, intellect and emotions; because mind works within the framework of Space and Time! We have to go "out of our mind"- and …enter a realm of awareness – before knowing starts i.e. before creation starts.
The scriptures express it in "a picture"; they say the Vedas are the Breath of God. Breath is from the moment we exist! I and my breath are as one.
The Breath of God means, the Vedas exist… as God; God and the Vedas are one!
What? The Vedas are God?
The Vedas are the cosmic laws according to which the universe functions. They are knowledge per se. Everything is known by God alone, hence he is said to be omniscient in every religion there is. Hence the Vedas are God!….
No, of course not the book one holds in ones hand…but the meaning, the eternal laws, the knowledge per se, that is VEDA.
Modern science expresses it in a different way; We live in a "intelligent universe"; we live in "infinite mind"; the universe is a "self-aware universe": Brain Science today has established, that before we know something, before we are conscious ( con = with’ science = knowledge) there is already a state of knowing in our mind, which is not yet limited by our ability to put things into thoughts, i.e. words.
There is for a fraction of an instant pure awareness.
So thought (as we know it) arises out of this "pre-existing awareness".
Pure knowledge rises out of this primordial state of awareness, without the pollution of the conditioning of our personal thought.
This pure knowledge is the essence of the Vedas; is there before mental knowing starts, coming out of the cosmic mind, the all-mind …. the divine mind .
There is no past, present and future
- furthermore it holds not just human knowledge, but that kind ofknowledge by which the lettuce knows how to grow, a planet knows how to glow; a river knows how to flow and my cells know how to Be "Me". It refers to the process behind what is seen.
This cosmic knowledge is the subtle origin of the laws according to which our universe unfolds and functions. As everything moves from the subtle to the gross; it is indescribable potentiality; it is "God", is Vedas.
The laws governing the unfolding of this inherent knowledge are the cosmic order called Rita; (source of the word ritual!) they were always there – "beginning-less".
The rishis were the first to become conscious of these principles and they past them on orally in verses; thus they were first called the sruti ( what is heard) and later their knowledge, once written down – became the smrittis (what has been written ).
What must the people, the society have been like to bring forth such wise ones as the ancient scientists? How did these "wise guys" find these laws? It is clear that the wisdom, the science expressed in the Vedas…must have at the root a highly developed people.
Until recently, especially according to people like Max Mueller…it was assumed that Indian Aboriginals.. .(called Dravidians) could not have possibly held such high knowledge.. it must have come from the Aryans… who invaded from the North and brought the knowledge with them.
This theory is in recent decades been completely upturned,
even though many books still hold to it. The word Arya… is connected to the syllable for "noble " and " plow" (Sanskrit). By no stretch of imagination can these syllables be matched to the invaders from the north; warrior hordes streaming into the land from the North, across the Himalayas, the Aryans are often described.
It makes more sense, as one suspects now, that the word refers to highly evolved agricultural people; excavation in India, around Dvaraka (Gujarat); the Indus Valley and most recent in Anatolia, Northern Afghanistan etc. seem to have completely annihilated the "invasion theory".
In the regions below the Himalaya , especially along the now buried river Saraswati….lived a highly civilized people, of who several hundred cities have so far been unearthed. And that ..timewise…before invasions from the North. They had advanced architecture, art, astronomy, drainage systems, paved streets… etc. Recent excavations stretching further West show even much older sites in North-West India, Greater Iran, Anatolia (Nevali Cori) and right into Turkmenestan.
There was common language, commerce, and peaceful exchange of all sorts…so called Indian Goddess statues like Durga have been found everywhere as well as the oldest Tempel so far excavated, and the oldest sculpture known to date - to mankind .
These sites, especially go back to 10 000 BC! And it is thought, that they are linked with man’s aspiration, a (turning point in evolution) when man became aware not only of his belly, the Earth and agriculture…but expanded his mind to the Cosmos.
It seems, there were even great places of learning…we could call universities; in this very old civilization.
An affluent, well settled and well fed society, driven to discover cosmic laws, discover the heavens and collecting a complex body of knowledge is a much more likely to be the root for the Vedic times.
At this point the wisdom was passed on orally (srutis)… specific families had the Job to memories and keep knowledge and the sounds pure… (This tradition can still be found in the India of today).
But how could these wise man discover such accurate knowledge about the world, without the technology we have? In high states of meditation they experienced - that the entire universe is energy, moving , vibrating energy. This is what most modern society concludes today!
Modern Science from Einstein to Quantum physics agree that vibrating energy is at the base of all phenomena. Every object of the universe is in essence this energetic pulse; which changes from particle to wave to particle!
The same rhythm is everywhere and on some gross level they seem natural to us:
Watch the sea, there is a natural heaving and falling perceptible; watch it, where it hits the shore, there is a regular pulse, of incoming wave- outgoing wave. This is the rhythm of the universe!
watch the cells of any body…they are born they die;
but most easy to perceive watch your breath…air flows in and out.
This whole universe from the subtlest subatomic particle to the grossest matter, follow this simple rhythm.
We perceive continuum, because we do neither see the frequency of vibration, nor the points of change! (In quantum physics these points are called non-locality, or quantum discontinuity.)
However unaware of this continual minute changes - we see only the gross objects or structures; and this is what the great rishis understood…
- they saw that the different vibrating energies follow an order, a cosmic order – which fixes the orbits of the sun, - just as the rhythm in which the wings of a mosquito operates.
- they understood, that not only does everything have its own vibration;
but (as you know from music lessons)--- one vibration sets of other vibrations.
Together they make new vibrations, and this goes on and on throughout the creation; it’s the grade of activity (i.e. frequencies) which accounts for various apparent differences.
The mineral, vegetable, animal and human kingdoms are fields of gradual changes of electro-magnetic vibration. This is in modern biology called a morphogenetic field.
We are not only formed by these vibrations but live and move in them,
they surround us as fish is surrounded by water,
and we contain them in us like a vessel immersed in water , contains water.
Different moods, inclinations, affairs, successes, failures – thoughts, emotions and feelings are nothing but different fields of vibrations.
The finest vibrations are not even perceptible by us; we call it subtle energy!
Through intense concentration and one pointed focus, called samyama, the rishis discovered the frequency to which something responds - "their signature tune".
Why? Because vibration produces sound.
Just as electromagnetic waves are converted into sonic waves and become audible to our ears as radio –music --- cosmic vibration became audible to the rishi’s trained perception.
(Something like being able to hear "the white noise of the universe" in today’s science).
These sounds (or mantras) giving and expressing meaning are NOT exclusive to the insights of ancient India; the Australian Aboriginal tradition of "Song-lines"might come from similar experiences.
If this ancient and modern wisdom is correct then you have a sound, and indeed "Music is all around", we just have to learn to listen. It is said : "the world is Nada"; or "Nada-Brahma", "the world is sound".
Understanding this brings us one step closer to having a key to understand the Vedas.
The rish’s not only heard the wisdom, but they tried to communicate it.
This was the start of the Sanskrit language, with its total emphasis on sound.
This vibrating , harmonising orchestra of sound which the universe is, highlights another puzzling point, the Vedas are also said to be "without end!"
The energy/sound vibrations are always going on! The Rishis simply "grabbed a few", those few that are sufficient for the welfare and happiness of Beings, but it goes on and on and on… revealing, hiding, changing, creating, dissolving…endless knowledge being alive….
There is a story to illuminate this, within the Vedas:
A great rishi studied for 90 years the Vedas. At his time of death he asked the Lord : Can I live a bit longer there is still so much to dis-cover! The Lord said: OK I give you a fourth life-span!
At the end of that; again the rishi said: Lord have pitty there is still so much to study!
So the lord made three huge mountains; than he picked up a hand full of earth.
"What you have studied so far is equal to this hand full of earth. What you have yet to learn is of the order of these three mountains!!!
So knowledge becomes unveiled …to this day, and beyond… as long as this universe exists! No dogma, no "I have-it-all- attitude"!
This makes the Vedas unique; it has a breadth of vision not encountered in other religious context. This is the greatness of the Vedas that made it survive all those centuries, cultures, invasions and so on.
The goal of the Vedas is to know and honour this holistic aspect in all existence, and merge in it; meaning to raise ones own frequencies to such a level as to swing in unison with the All.
Or simply said, to exist in harmony with all others and all aspects. This total union is called Yoga. To know our place in the cosmos, to tune our vibrations to resonate with all there is, is Yoga!
Once ones vibration merge in harmony with all Vibration, like one instrument in an orchestra of many – freedom is obtained.
Freedom to emphasise with all existence, to understand all existence, to love all that exists "because we are One".
To live from and in this freedom is living the sanatana dharma;
Is participating in the harmony of the universe
Is eternal freedom
is the goal of Yoga; it is Kaivalya, the state of Oneness.
Ohm Tat Sat
Some interesting Literature:
- The Vedas; Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati; Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Mumbai
400 007; publ. 2000
- The Wisdom of the Vedas; JC Chatterji; Quest books, Chennai; 1992
- The Celestial Key to the Vedas; B.G.Sidharth; Inner Traditions; 1999
- GOD; Swami Veda Bharati; Himalayan Institute Press; 1979
