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| Vedas |
| Ramayana |
Srimad Valmiki
Ramayana is an epic poem of India which narrates
the journey of Virtue to annihilate voice. Sri
Rama lived in Treta Yug, millennia BC. Srimad
Valmiki Ramayana is composed of verses called
Sloka, in Sanskrit language, which is an ancient
language from India. Thus the structure of Srimad
Valmiki Ramayana is arranged into six chapters.
Ramayana contains 24,000 verses [sloka] arranged
into numerous cantos [sarga] which are contained
in six books as mentioned earlier.Characters from
the Ramayana even existed. However, Sage Valmiki
has recorded the dates if events in detail, albeit
by describing the positions of stars and planets.
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| The Bhagavad
Gita |
Bhagavad
Gita is revered as a sacred text of Hindu philosophy.
The name 'Bhagavad Gita', when translated into
English, literally means 'Song of God'. Its written
format is that of a poem which is 700 verses long.
Commonly referred to as The Gita, it is a conversation
between Krishna and Arjuna which takes place on
a battlefield, just prior to the start of a climactic
war. During the conversation, Krishna proclaims
that he is God and at the request of Arjuna, displays
his divine form, which is described as timeless,
that leaves the latter awestruck. The conversation
summarizes a number of different Yogic and Vedantic
philosophies, explaining the meaning and purpose
of life and existence. It is not exactly clear
when the Bhagavad Gita was written. Astronomical
evidence cited in the Mahabharata place the incidents
upon which the Gita is based around the time 3100-3150
BCE, while the Puranas suggest a date of c. 1924
BCE. Scholars place the actual writing of the
Gita in the latter half of the 1st millennium
BC (roughly 4th century BC), making it a contemporary
of the older Upanishads.
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The discourse on the Bhagavad Gita begins before
the start of the climactic battle at Kurukshetra.
It begins with the pandava prince Arjuna, as
he becomes filled with doubt on the battlefield.
Realising that his enemies are his own relatives,
beloved friends, and revered teachers, he turns
to his charioteer and guide
Krishna counsels Arjuna, beginning with the
tenet that the human Soul is immortal, and human
death on the battlefield is just the shedding
of the body, but the soul is permanent. Krishna
goes on to expound on the yogic paths of devotion,
action, meditation and knowledge. Fundamentally,
the Bhagavad Gita proposes that true enlightenment
comes from growing beyond identification with
the Ego, the little Self, and that one must
identify with the Truth of the immortal Self,
the ultimate Divine Consciousness. Through detachment
from the personal Ego, the Yogi, or follower
of a particular path of Yoga, is able to transcend
his mortality and attachment from the material
world, and see the Infinite.
To demonstrate the infinity of the unknowable
Brahman, Krishna grants Arjuna the boon of cosmic
vision (albeit temporary), and allows the prince
to see Him in all his Divine Glory. He reveals
that He is fundamentally both the ultimate essence
of Being in the universe, and also its material
body. This is called the Vishvarupa/Viratrupa.
Gita refers to the war as Dharma Yuddha, meaning
just war. In chapter 4, verse 7, it clearly
states that God takes incarnation to establish
righteousness in the world.
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http://www.bhagavad-gita.org
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The Vedas
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The Vedas collectively
refers to a corpus of ancient Indo Aryan religious
literature that are associated with the Vedic
civilization and are considered by adherents of
Hinduism to be revealed knowledge. Hindus believe
that the Vedas were not written by anyone (including
God), but are eternally existing (apaurusheya).
While many historians regard the Vedas as some
of the oldest surviving texts, they estimate them
to have been written down between 1500 BCE and
500 BCE.
The Vedas consist of several kinds of texts, all
of which date back to ancient times. The core
is formed by the Mantras which represent hymns,
prayers, incantations, magic and ritual formulas,
charms etc. The hymns and prayers are addressed
to a pantheon of gods and a few goddesses important
members of which are Rudra, Varuna, Indra, Agni,
etc. The mantras are supplemented by texts regarding
the sacrificial rituals in which these mantras
are used as well as texts exploring the philosophical
aspects of the ritual tradition, narratives etc.
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The Vedas were compiled around the time of
Krishna (c. 3500 B.C.), and even at that time
were hardly understood. Hence they are very
ancient and only in recent times has their spiritual
import, like that of the other mystery teachings
of the ancient world, begun to be rediscovered
or appreciated even in India. Like the Egyptian
teachings they are veiled, symbolic and subtle
and require a special vision to understand and
use properly
The great compiler of the Veda and Puranas was
Vyasa Krishna Dwaipayana. He was said to be
the twenty-eighth of the Vyasas or compilers
of Vedic knowledge. He was somewhat older than
the Avatar Krishna and his work continued after
the death of Krishna. Perhaps he is symbolic
of a whole Vedic school which flourished at
that time, as many such Vedic schools were once
prominent all over India and in some places
beyond
Organization
The Mantras are collected into anthologies
called Samhitas. They are commonly referred
to as the Rigveda, Samaveda, Yajurveda, and
Atharvaveda respectively. Each Samhita is preserved
in a number of versions or recensions shakhas.
The Rigveda contains the oldest part of the
corpus, and consists of 1028 hymns. The Samaveda
is mostly a rearrangement of the Rigveda for
musical rendering. The Yajurveda gives sacrificial
prayers and the Atharvaveda gives charms, incantations,
magic formulas etc. In addition to these there
are some stray secular material, legends, etc.
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| Upanishad |
Upanishad
means the inner or mystic teaching. The term Upanishad
is derived from upa (near), ni (down) and s(h)ad
(to sit), i.e., sitting down near. Groups of pupils
sit near the teacher to learn from him the secret
doctrine. In the quietude of the forest hermitages
the Upanishad thinkers pondered on the problems
of deepest concerns and communicated their knowledge
to fit pupils near them. Samkara derives the word
Upanishad as a substitute from the root sad, 'to
loosen.' 'to reach' or 'to destroy' with Upa and
ni as prefixes as termination. If this determination
is accepted, Upanishad means Brahma-knowledge
by which ignorance is loosened or destroyed. The
treatises that deal with brahma-knowledge are
called the Upanishads and so pass for the Vedanta.
The different derivations together make out that
the Upanishads give us both spiritual vision and
philosophical argument. There is a core of certainty
which is essentially incommunicable except by
a way of life. It is by a strictly personal effort
that one can reach the truth. The Upanishads more clearly set
forth the prime Vedic doctrines like Self-realization,
yoga and meditation, karma and reincarnation,
which were hidden or kept veiled under the symbols
of the older mystery religion. The older Upanishads
are usually affixed to a particularly Veda, through
a Brahmana or Aranyaka. The more recent ones are
not. The Upanishads became prevalent some centuries
before the time of Krishna and Buddha.
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The main figure in the Upanishads, though not
present in many of them, is the sage Yajnavalkya.
Most of the great teachings of later Hindu and
Buddhist philosophy derive from him. He taught
the great doctrine of "neti-neti",
the view that truth can be found only through
the negation of all thoughts about it. Other
important Upanishadic sages are Uddalaka Aruni,
Shwetaketu, Shandilya, Aitareya, Pippalada,
Sanat Kumara. Many earlier Vedic teachers like
Manu, Brihaspati, Ayasya and Narada are also
found in the Upanishads.
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