The importance of VEDAS in our culture.

Vedas are actually a body of knowledge and the scriptures say: “ The Vedas are the breath of God.” They can be rightly called the treasure-trove of Hindu religion, tradition and culture. They contain codes of righteous conduct and are supposed to have been taught by God Himself thousands of years ago. They help build moral integrity and norms that are applicable even today.

They are classified as exoteric dealing with ceremonial acts and esoteric dealing with acquiring spiritual knowledge. The Vedas are technically termed Sruti, revealed knowledge and explain eternal truths and remain authoritative statements all the time.

A unique feature of the Vedas is its adoption of humanistic approach to abstract and difficult subjects. Social, political and economic problems of life have been taken into account by the Vedas and a scheme has been framed to attain prosperity in all walks of life. With this, the common man’s mind is fully satisfied.

According to tradition, they were not the compositions of a human being, arrived at through intellectual and logical reasoning, based on sense perception. They are God’s revelations. They were available in the creation, in the forms of sound waves and Rishis were qualified to receive them. Sru means “ to hear “ and sruti means “ that which is heard.” Hence we can rightly say that Rishis served as a media for reaching the vedas to humanity and Sruti is the “ breath” of the Lord.

The vedas can be broadly classified into Vedapurva & Vedantha.

Vedapurva contains the Karma kanda and upasana kanda , which design a lifestyle for a fulfilling life. The purpose of the Karma Kanda is to eliminate the impurities of mind. Upasana Kanda helps us attain single-ponitedness.

Vedantha consists of jnana kanda and mainly upanishads and are meant to be learnt when one becomes mature and seeks self-knowledge. These revelations, containing indelible rules relating to man’s safe voyage in life are paramount, infinite and have no end.

The vedic utterances govern all aspects of a man’s life. They are not against material welfare but impose a simple condition that they should be within the constitutional freamework of virtue which is called Dharma.

Unity in diversity at the world level is the favourite theory of the Vedas and they have kept in mind, man’s needs and aspirations, his quest for peace and the link that ought to be established between God and an individual soul.

Digging into the mine of Vedic knowledge has resulted in unearthing several secrets which the scientific knowledge has discovered at a later stage.It has even been proven that when one chants Vedic mantras without understanding their meaning, positive effects are produced on the body. This is the power of the Vedic mantras.This only proves that we should be rightly proud of our culture and heritage !

Love & regards,
Chithra.

 

Meena, it looks a little tough, but it is easy to understand.

This morning I had asked for an interview with my Vedantha Teacher Swami Paramarthananda. He specifically mentioned to me that we are following many things in our culture based on faith and it is safe to assume that they should be followed without asking too many " why"s & asking for scientific explanations. He says that way, we get " side tracked" unnecessarily ! Major rituals only are veda based, others are tradition based & varies with each community, given the large number in our country.
Now, coming to a controversial point, there are 2 schools of thought about veda mantras being chanted by ladies. My Guru does not subscribe positively to this. So I chant shlokas & just shanti mantras in Vedas. Veda mantras have to be correctly learnt from a good teacher because pronounciation & meter are more important. One cannot learn it from a book, is what I am given to undestand.
Love & regards,
Chithra.

 

Thankyou, Sudha, you had the patience to read through !

I was quite " wary " of posting " vedas", because the very mention of the word makes one think it is complex. But still I went ahead because they are the very breath of our culture. If one honestly decides to understand & makes an attempt, without a preconceived prejudice, it is simple. I personally feel, that i have made it as simple a presentation as possible. Just a little determination & application to understand is necessary.
When I buy veda casettes, I make sure the person is very learned & his chanting is good. There are many such available in the market. I buy the ones from institutions so that they have a seal of approval by the mutt heads.
Why do you think, it is " parapaksham" ? We have enough work cooking, looking after the children etc whereas men " have all the time in the world: ( ?!) to do all these to bring in positive energy in the house. Let us interpret it as " division of labour" !
Love & regards,
Chithra.

 

Just a sharing of thoughts, sumanr !

I have heard that in Pune Lady Vedic Pundits conduct Homa, Yajna etc. There is even a group in Tamil Nadu, I am told. In fact, in Puttaparthi it is very much allowed & veda classes are conducted for women. It is quite popular now to hear ladies chanting Veda. So there is no bar on that.
When I asked my Guru, he just said to me " When you have so many texts like soundaryalahari, Aditya Hridayam, Vishnu & Lalitha sahasranamams, read them all ". I took the hint, that is all. It is one's own decision, ultimately.
But one thing is certain - veda mantras should be learnt with the correct pronunciation & meter from qualified teachers only. Self-learning is generally not recommended.
Love & regards,
Chithra.

 

Thanks for your appreciation, Suba.

When I started this thread itself, my idea was to introduce a slightly " heavy subject" now & then.
We should not assume that our culture is full of only rituals. There is MUCH beyond that, which, atleast we should make an attempt to understand. If we do not understand it when we read it first, a second attempt will be more helpful.
When they form the " treasure-chest" of our culture, I think it is our duty for everyone of us to know what they mean at all ! Somehow we always assume, it is all fit for only the older generation ! When I was younger, I had no exposure to all this. Now I regret not having learnt about the deeper and abstract aspects of our culture. Hence I want to share with younger generation people like you, what I lost out in my younger days.
Love & regards,
Chithra.