What are the VEDAS?

Fri, 02/26/2010

Vedas: n. the scriptures

The Vedas are sagely revelations which comprise a body of dozens of the oldest and most authoritative sacred texts, known collectively as the Veda and gathered into four collections: Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva.

The oldest portions of the Vedas are thought to date back as far as 6,000 years ago, written down in Sanskrit in the last few millennia, making them the world's most ancient scriptures.

They, along with the Agamas, are shruti, "that which is heard." They are supposed to have been passed through oral tradition for over 100,000 years. They came to us in written form between 4-6,000 years ago. In all they include over 100,000 verses, as well as additional prose. The knowledge imparted by the Vedas is highly mystical or superconscious rather than intellectual.

Each Veda has four sections:

• Samhitas (most ancient part of the Vedas, the mantra or hymns of praise to God)
• Brahmanas (rituals and prayers to guide the priests in their duties / priestly manuals)
• Aranyakas (theological sections/forest treatises concern worship and meditation)
• Upanishads (mystical and philosophical teachings/enlightened discourses)

The hymn sections are the oldest. The others were added at a later date and each explains some aspect of the hymns or follows one line of interpreting them. The Samhitas and Brahmanas (together known as the karmakanda, “ritual section”) detail a transcendent-immanent Supreme-Being cosmology and a system of worship through fire ceremony and chanting to establish communication with the Gods. The Aranyakas and Upanishads (the jnanakanda, "knowledge section") outline the soul's evolutionary journey, providing yogic-philosophic training and propounding a lofty, non-dual realization as the destiny of all souls.

There are also auxiliary texts called Vedangas. Vedic literature refers to the whole of this vast group of literature. The whole of Rgveda and most of Atharvaveda are in the form of poetry, or hymns to the deities and the elements. Samaveda is in verses that are to be sung and Yajurveda is largely in short prose passages. Both Samaveda and Yajurveda are concerned with rituals rather than philosophy - especially Yajurveda.
 

Rig-Veda Samhita

(c. 1200 BCE)

"Whence this creation has come into existence,
whether He established it or did not;

He who is its overseer in the higher firmament,

He verily knows or knows not…"

- The Rig-Veda (hymns to Prajapati, the creator)


Typical mind game from the subtlest and most profound of all ancient Indian, and indeed world, scriptures. This spirit of questioning is, in many ways, the essence of the Vedas.

The Rig-Veda Samhita is the oldest, largest and most important of the Vedas. The books were composed by sages and poets from different priestly groups over a period of at least 500 years. As a body of writing, the Rig-Veda (the wisdom of verses) is nothing short of remarkable. It is a collection of 1,028 Vedic Sanskrit hymns and 10,589 verses in all, organized into ten mandalas or book sections.

Rig-veda means the wisdom of adoration and mostly contains verses adoring Rigvedic deities; who were, quite expectedly, nature deities. About two-thirds of Rigveda is about the gods Agni (Fire) and Indra (rain god; king of heavens), Agni (fire god) and Rudra (storm god; the 'howler'). But it also dealt with other subjects, like the procedure of wedding, the folly of gambling. There are references to a divine creeper, the Soma, whose juice was an energizer. Some animals like horses, some rivers, and even some implements (like mortar and pestle) were deified.
 

Yajur-Veda Samhita

The Yajur-Veda or the wisdom of sacrifices lays down various sacred invocations (yajurs) which were chanted by a particular sect of priests called adhvaryu while they performed the sacrificial rites. This is very much a ritual based Veda for although there are a few hymns to various Gods the main stress is on the theory of the ritual. Its purpose was practical, in that each mantra must accompany an action in sacrifice. The Veda also outlines various chants which should be sung to pray and pay respects to the various instruments which are involved in the sacrifice.

Yajur-veda has two branches, Krishna or Black and Shukla or White. While both contain mantras or incantations to be chanted at rituals, Black Yajurveda also has many explanations. Of the Black Yajurveda four major recensions survive, Taittirya, Katthaka, Maitrayani and Kapishtthala. Those of White Yajurveda are Madhyanadina and Kanva. The literary value of Yajurveda is mostly for its prose, which consists of short terse sentences full of meaning and cadence.
 

Sam-Veda Samhita

The Sama-Veda or the wisdom of chants or knowledge of melodies. The name of this Veda is from the Sanskrit word saman which means a metrical hymn or song of praise. It consists of 1549 stanzas, taken entirely (except 78) from the Rig-Veda. Some of the Rig-Veda verses are repeated more than once.

Its purpose was liturgical and practical, to serve as a songbook for the "singer" priests who officiated at the rituals of the soma ceremonies. A priest who sings hymns from the Sama-Veda during a ritual is called an udgat, a word derived from the Sanskrit root ud-gai
("to sing" or "to chant").

It is not surprising that the Sama-Veda is better known for the precise meter of its poetry than for its literary content. There are also painstaking instructions in Sama-Veda about how particular hymns must be sung; according to certain fixed melodies; using the seven svaras or notes. Such songs are called Samagana and in this sense Samaveda is really a book of hymns. This is perhaps because great emphasis was put upon sounds of the words of the mantras and the effect they could have on the environment and the person who pronounced them.

Two major recensions remain today, the Kauthuma/Ranayaniya and the Jaiminiya.
 

Atharva-Veda Samhita

(c. 900 BCE)

The Atharva-Veda or the wisdom of the Atharvans, is called so because it is associated with the name of the ancient poet Atharvan (The Wise Old One). The families of the atharvan sect of the Brahmins have traditionally been credited with the composition of the Vedas.

The custom is to enumerate Yajurveda and Samaveda after the Rigveda, and mention Atharvaveda last. Atharvaveda contains about 6 thousand verses forming 731 poems and a small portion in prose. Atharvaveda contains first class poetry coming from visionary poets, much of it being glorification of the curative powers of herbs and waters and has incantations for everything – from success in love to the realization of otherworldly ambitions.. Many poems relate to diseases like cough and jaundice, to male and female demons that cause diseases, to sweet-smelling herbs and magic amulets, which drive diseases away. There are poems relating to sins and their atonement, errors in performing rituals and their expiatory acts, political and philosophical issues, and a wonderful hymn to Prithvi or Mother Earth.
 

Upanishads

The Upanishads were so called because they were taught to those who sat down beside their teachers. (upa=near, ni=down, shad=sit). These texts developed from the Vedic tradition, but largely reshaped Hinduism by providing believers with philosophical knowledge.

The major Upanishads were largely composed between 800-200 BCE and are partly prose, partly verse. Later Upanishads continued to be composed right down to the 16th century. Originally they were in oral form. The early Upanishads are concerned with understanding the sacrificial rites. Central to the Upanishads is the concept of brahman; the sacred power which informs reality. Whilst the priests (brahmins) had previously been the ones who, through ritual and sacrifice, had restricted access to the divine, now the knowledge of the universe was open to those of the high and middle castes willing to learn from a teacher.

Vedas: v. knowledge

“The Vedas are not merely particular books but are the very vibrations of the Divine Word, the Primal Sound, the voice of original reality.

The Vedic vision is a universal mantric knowledge that integrates all aspects of human knowledge including yoga, philosophy, poetry, psychology, mythology and ritual. The Vedas are like an ongoing explosion of insights, with every sort of colour and form, merging ultimately into a pure lightning illumination that has no end.

For me the Vedas are a living teaching and the Vedic rishis are living teachers. There is no gap of time or culture between us and the Vedas. The Vedas transcend time. Nor do I see the Vedas as merely Indian; they are the heritage of the greater spiritual humanity from which we have fallen and to which we must return."
- Dr. David Frawley (Pandit Vamadeva Shastri) Founder/Director of The American Institute of Vedic Studies.

“Veda is enlivened in one's awareness. . . . by having the intelligence be itself.”
- Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

The Veda itself is knowledge. The kind of knowledge gained during going beyond the active mind, to experience the infinite silence and consciousness that lies at the basis of all created things. The Vedic seers proclaimed that this knowledge exists within everyone, deep within our own consciousness, but we are out of touch with it because we have lost the ancient knowledge of how to go within. By diving deep within the self, and beyond our own individual consciousness, to the universal all pervading consciousness, we too can experience the Veda.

“This Vedic education is not through reading, or studying, or remembering of anything, but waking up within oneself and spontaneously having a natural authority over the total organizing power of natural law.”
- Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

Omved in its pursuit to well-being is trying to bring to light, the eternal wisdom of the Vedic Tradition and restoring its holistic understanding. The knowledge and understanding of Veda does not come through intellectual analysis, but from identifying one’s awareness with Veda and exploring it on its own level. In simple words - You can know the Veda by being Veda.

Vedāham Vedo’ham
I know the Veda, I am the Veda.

This profound and important understanding removes Vedic Study from the intellectual interpretation of the Vedic Texts and their commentaries, and places it on a new foundation—the exploration of the fundamental reality of life, which is nothing other than one’s own self-referral consciousness.

"One can be the master of one's own destiny if one follows the Vedic way of life, which is life according to natural law, which can prevent disorders."
- Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

Omved promises through its offerings to help develop (om)complete (ved)knowledge in the awareness of every individual through exploring Veda and the Vedic traditions on its own level, and enlivening the fundamental impulses of Natural Law permanently in his/her awareness and enhancing the development of higher states of consciousness.

Omved offerings are inspired from the Vedic approach to health and well-being, which aims at the establishment of perfect health through prevention-oriented health programs. Along with that is the need of maintaining life in accord with Natural Law as a requirement for preventing suffering of any kind. When the physiology functions in accord with the Laws of Nature that govern the universe, the entire nervous system will be maintained in its proper functioning without any imbalance.

Our products and services help you recreate Vedic traditions and ways of the ancient seers who experienced the eternal impulses of Nature’s functioning as fluctuations of their own consciousness. These seers experienced the dynamics of pure consciousness and its sequential unfoldment into matter, and recorded their experiences in the expressions of the Vedic Literature. These expressions have been preserved for many generations by the Vedic Families of India, who maintained them through an oral tradition of recitation.

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