HINDUISM FOR ALL

THE VEDAS

The guiding force of the Hinduism is its belief in the infalliable word of God, the . Veda is the general term to refer to the whole corpus of the hymns, psalms, praises compiled by the various Rishis. Hindus believe that Vedas are revealed texts i.e., the knowledge revealed by and hence there is not an ioata of data in it which can be questionable. The sages who had attained the status of Rishis due to the virtue of their intense penances, were chosen by God to be the promulgators of His knowledge. In course of time, due to the multitude of knowledge and the lack of competence on part of man to master the entire corpus, Krishna Dvaipaayana, the son of Rishi Paraashara segregated the contents of Vedas into four distinctive divisions, namely Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Saama Veda and Atharva Veda. It is not that such a division was unknown in the past, but it was due to the absolute methodical arrangement of Rishi Dvaipaayana, that he came to be known as Veda Vyaasa i.e. the ‘Editor of the Vedas’.

Each Veda has four sections (Angas) namely Mantra (Samhita), Braahmana, Aaranyaka and Upanishad. The Mantra / Samhita portions are concerned with the praises and hymns addressed to the deities of Vedic pantheon.

Braahmanas are the portions enjoining the usage of the mantras is the various Yajnyas i.e., sacrifices. Vedic religion believes in Tyaaga i.e. giving up the sense of ownership on one’s possessions. The idea behind the Yajnya, derived from the root ‘Yaj’, was to prompt man to sacrifice, for the sake of the larger interest of the world as well for one’s own prosperity. There were different sacrifices, called Sraut Yajnyas with different methodologies of performances. The Braahmana portions elaborated the usage of mantras and explained the methodology of the sacrifices.

Aaranyakas mark the shift of emphasis from action towards poise of enquiry. Aaranyakas seek to know the significance of the sacrifices, their symbolic interpretation and the role of sacrifices in the spiritual development.

What began as a quest in the Aaranyakas, attained their culmination in the Upanishads. Upanishads, literally meaning sitting near the teacher / Supreme Brahman / knowledge, to attain the Ultimate Truth regarding the life of an individual. The Upanishads contain the key to the philosophical truth which unravels itself in the conversations between the teacher and students. Upanishads may be considered as raizon de etre of not only Vedic religion but of the entire world, for one can see the roots of almost all western or eastern philosophies in the Upanishadic lore.

The Vedic texts were thus classified into four, with almost each Veda having their four fold divisions. There were many recensions Shaakhaas (Branches) for each Veda.

Rig Veda:

This may be considered as stated by famous Indologist Prof. Max Muller as “The Oldest Book in the Library of the World”.

Yajur Veda:

The ‘Yajur’ derives its name from the emphasis its contents lay on the performance of the Yajnya. The contents of Yajur Veda are mainly prosoic and deal especially with the performances of the various Vedic sacrifices called Srauta Yajnyas.

It has two predominant schools i.e. Krishna Yajur Veda and Shukla Yajur Veda. The legend goes that Sage Yajnyavalkya received the instructions directly from the Lord Surya, hence the Veda is called Shukla Yajur Veda (Shukla : meaning – Bright)

Saama Veda:

The term ‘Saman’ refers to musical notes. The Veda is so named as the mantras of Rig Veda are put to ‘tunes’ and are recited during the sacrifices. The origin of Indian classical music is traced to the Saamans (hymns).

Atharva Veda:

The last of the quartet, Atharva is named after the Rishi Atharva Aangiras. This Veda is generally misconceptualised as dealing with black magic, owing to ignorance of what occult stands for. It deals with certain practices to keep the general populance safe from external disturbance using cryptic hymns. It is one of the best known record of Indian knowledge system with regard to the understanding of Nature that Nature is not ‘for man’ but man is a ‘part of nature’.

This article is a snippet from the Book Hinduism For All, Authored by TS Srinivasan and Edited By Dr Ramchandrashekar. Hinduism for All is available online at www.giri.in & across Giri Trading Agency Private Limited, A chain of Speciality Stores dealing in all kinds of products needed in Indian Culture & Tradition.

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