Vedic Wisdom - Introduction

Vedic Wisdom

Introduction

We believe that the totally compassionate God has created this universe and every being in it, including the human beings - only to be always happy and not to suffer at all. But on the contrary we are only seeing every human being complaining being unhappy, sad, sorrowful and worried. We find only ‘Dhukka’ all around excepting for the occasional ‘Suka’.The question arises therefore how and why this has happened. It raises the fundamental question whether the Vedic proclamations are incorrect or there are problems with the human beings which makes the Vedic declarations inoperable.

Various scriptures, Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas, Itihasas and Vakyas have gone into the depths of this question again and again and have come out repeatedly with concrete answers, affirming and reaffirming, that the state of bliss is the rule and the state of suffering is manmade. Our sages have left treasure of philosophical knowledge as to why and how the life is only bliss ; what causes the maladies and how to remedy them.

But since they were of a time in which the language and method of communication were different from what is in vogue today, many of us find it difficult to comprehend them. Also they are couched in a somewhat of a mystic language and so it is decipherable only by the serious and ardent seekers. In the current day modern fast world, not many have time for analyzing and deciphering the underlying meanings. Therefore for the current generation, it sounds ‘Latin and Greek’. In addition to this, nowadays “human logic” plays a more important role than “revealed wisdom”- in other words the ocean of the divine wisdom has to be seen through the prism of limited human logic.

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Therefore it has become our duty to reason out to everyone the scientific nature of the Vedic contents so that nobody can think that the Vedic wisdom is bereft of any logic and for that, as said before I will try and present it in a simple and straight forward language so that everyone can understand, grasp and appreciate the same. It must be noted here that since Vedas have been written esoterically i.e., simple in words but very deep in meanings, it poses a challenge to demystify it and simplify it.

But this is not a challenge that is being faced only now; even at that time it has been faced and that is why the sages converted the deep philosophy of the Vedas into parables (Puranas) and rituals (Anushthanas).Their idea was that as long as the people follow the ingrained principles of Vedas the desired result will follow whether the people are experts or not. We see the same logic in our normal life also while all of us enjoy many electric and electronic gadgets, most of us don’t know anything big about the science of electrics or electronics. We only follow the operating manual and enjoy the gadgets.

But now we have an added problem to be addressed. Over a period of time, the Puranas stayed as they were told as captivating stories, but the underlying wisdom did not. Similarly the rituals stayed without the understanding of its significance. Therefore after thousands of years now we find that the essence of the philosophy is lost and has been taken over by ritualists and story tellers which have lead to a backlash with the current intelligent and logical minded generation.

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There is a beautiful story of Ramakrishna on rituals. There was a man who was living with his father, his wife and a son and he had a ‘pet cat’. One day his father died ; the annual shrardha day came and the function was arranged.At that time in order to avoid confusion and inconvenience that may be caused by the cat running around here and there, he tied the cat with a pole and completed the function. Years rolled. This practice continued year after year. His son was also growing up into a man. After sometime the man died and so also the cat. Now the shrardha for that man had to be done by this young boy who is now a grown up man. All the arrangements for the function were made and the purohits were ready. This young man was still waiting for something before he could start. The purohits asked whether the function could be started. The young man said that he was waiting for the

cat as it had to be tied up with the pole first, before starting the function. The purohits were aghast.

Ramakrishna explains how a ritual his father started for a purpose and for a reason had become a superstitious ritual since the reason and logic was not explained. The same thing has happened to the Vedic rituals as well and in the absence of the knowledge of the attendant logic and reason, they have simply become a mechanical action resulting in being a superstition.

The same is the case with Puranas also. Every Purana has a sound logic and an underlying moral principle to be conveyed. The sages opted for this route as the best way because obviously a well woven story will catch the imagination and get the message reached. In those days the morals along with the story was reaching the public through discourses, dances, dramas and folk arts, which were the main modes of mass entertainment. There was a breed of artists who were specialized and experienced in these art forms. But over a period of time the modes of entertainment changed from devotional to sensory, particularly after India came under the rule of aliens. As a result these forms of arts and artists waned away; the meaning and the logic of puranas were forgotten and only the stories survived. On the other side in the flow of evolution only the fittest species survive and the quality of such species advance; which means such species strength and intelligence grow. Accordingly, the fittest specie on earth -as on date- the human’s intelligence has grown manifold.

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In other words the students- the current generation people- who have to be educated and trained in the Vedic wisdom- have become more intelligent, while the teachers – the religious leaders-who have to explain the Vedic wisdom -have become less informed. Therefore a strange situation has arisen where the current day religion which is full of rituals and stories- without knowing its attendant logics and scientific explanations- is unable to answer the questions raised by the current generation.This has led to a disillusionment and in fact for the disbanding of the very faith itself. As a consequence, the concept of ‘Vasudhaiva kutumbakam’ –the whole world is one family – was lost sight off and personal aggrandizement, greed, untruth, lust and violence has become the order of the day. Unfortunately the religions had no logically convincing answers to counter the after effects of this loss of values, since as stated above the ancient wisdom got buried in the books and the persons responsible to provide the answers were, perhaps, themselves not aware of the deep philosophy and it’s logic. To worsen the matters the religions themselves got into a war as to who is superior.

This in effect meant that the ‘spiritual’ vedic wisdom was lost and the ‘ritual’ religion started ruling the roost resulting in degradation of the values of life, causing conflict and disharmony at all levels.

But thankfully, as said before, this is not the first time in the human history that such a thing has happened ; in the past also similar situations have arisen and have been handled successfully. Therefore there is no need for any despair as if it is irredeemable. The ‘Avataras’ have been periodically happening only because of the fall of wisdom and rise of ignorance like this, leading to evils gaining an upper hand. After all a Matsyavatara arose only when a demon concealed Vedas deep down in the ocean.

Also a Ravana lived when there was Lord Rama ; a Kamsa and a Sisupala lived when there was Lord Krishna. In fact Rama and Krishna came only because the ignorance became more powerful than true knowledge; with the Ravanas, Kamsas and Sisupalas, personifying Ego, Greed and Lust, becoming very much more powerful than the virtuous people of their times. Lord Buddha also arose in similar circumstances only when the rituals overtook the deep philosophy. It has always been the ordained duty of the sincere scholars to step into the scene, whenever half knowledge, no knowledge and fake knowledge rules the day, and re-present the Vedic wisdom in a contemporarian phraseology, so that the great wisdom of our sages is carried forward for eternity.

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This article is a snippet from the Book Vedic Wisdom, Authored by Pandit Sri Rama Sharma. Vedic Wisdom is available online at www.giri.in and across Giri Trading Agency Private Limited, A chain of Speciality Stores dealing in all kinds of products needed in Indian Culture and Tradition.