| Vedas constitute the Divine knowledge. They preach the eternal Truth. Following vedas ensures law, order and discipline in the society. Believed to be the very breathe of the Ultimate Lord or � Brahaman�, Vedas are said to be given by Him alone and not authored by human beings(�Apourusheyas�- not from the men).Vedas are the Truth embodied and studied and practiced by the sages of yore who are pioneers of the Mantra(sacred verses)Vedas are the basic texts of Sanathana dharma ( Westeners call it vedism) . The seers who have been pure in mind and totally commited to their tapas or penance could realise the Brahman -the Lord and through His compassion could visit upon the vedas which are hither to not known to the mankind. That is why Vedas are authored by Lord Himself and not by humanbeings. Vedas(vid = knowledge) are the true knowledge. They are also `apara vidyas'(worldly education) because they teach what to aspire for in this world and what not to aspire for, what is the right attitude of a man in this world, and how to go about to attain what you are aspiring for. Through them, you can achieve Dharma(right conduct), Artha( wealth) and Kama( Wordly Desires including sex, power and fame) -the first three of `Purusharthas�- the four desirable achievements of a human being. The fourth one is Moksha(liberation) which is attained through Upanishads- the later parts of vedas (called vedanta ). Upanishads are `para vidya' ,the knowledge about the achieving the liberation. Vedas are mostly told in Verse form. These verses are sacred and cannot be chanted as and when liked or with out the proper nishta. The intonation and meter and spelling are a must for vedas. The verses are called `mantras(sacred hymns) in sanskrit and they r supposed to be having super natural powers. Each mantra has a presiding deity over it who is supposed to be giving the results of chanting of mantra(mantra phala) .Mantra means which has to be repeated and understood , Literally it means the verse which explains the prescribed meaning Man- to repeat (manana) and tra_ the power of trana. Thus , there is no meaning in simply repeatng Vedas without really understanding and experiencing them. �Ananto Vaidah�: vedas are endless.Basically in the olden days, all compilations of knowledge went by the name of vedas and hence they became too numerous to be counted. They were very difficult to study and understand in the beginning . It was Vyaasa who has segregated them and reorganised them into first three ( and hence the name �trayee�-triad) and later into four.,so that it is easier to study. All the Rks are sorted into Rgveda, all the Yajurs into Yajur veda and all samas into Sama Veda. The adharva mantras constitute Advarva Veda. Thus, Vedas are four.-Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda and Atharvana veda.Vedas have lots of literature based on them and some of the literature traditionally formed part of Vedas themselves. But in truth, the core part of Vedas consists of only Samhitas , though it is now being acknowledged that they consists of Aranyakas, Brahmanas and Upanishads apart from Samhitas.(`Mantra Brahmana yor Veda namadheyah'- It is the anthology of mantras (samhitas) and Aranyakas which go by the name Veda- the true knowledge) While Samhitas are Upasana based and Aranyakas are Karma based, Upanishads are Basic Canons of Jnana.Thus Vedas are truly �Trikandatmakam�-made of three bodies. Samhitas are made of Mantras-sacred hymns wrtten to meter and have to be read in the proper tune .(`swara')They mostly consist of invocations to the Early Gods of Sanathana Dharma- Indra, Varuna , Yama ,Surya etc. These gods are relegated to second order in time , with Trimurties(Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu and Lord Siva who are responsible for the generation, operation and destruction as per Hindu mythology. The Brhma sutras say� janma dasya yatah' ie Brhman alone is responsible for the creation, sustainance and final destroying of the universe- that is why he is called god because he has trifold functions- generation, operation and destruction ) and their familes and their avatars (incarnations) taking the central stage. The Samhitas are totally five since Yajur Veda has two parts - Krshna Yajur samhita and Sukla Yajur samhita. These Samhitas consists of 20389 slokas ( Rig-10552, Sama-1875, Yajur or Vajasayina samhita-1975, Atharva - 5987) Brahmanas: The commentary to samhitas. The yajnas, their methods and methodologies, procedures, are known from Brahmanas. Satha patha Brahmaniyam, Taittreya brhamana, Aiithereya Brahmanas, Govadha Brhamana, Shadwinsha Brahmana are some of the Brahmanas now available to us with many of them lost to the mankind. Every Branch (`saka�) of the samhitas has Brhamanas attached to it. Aranyakas- the later parts to Brahmanas. Taittereya aranyaka, Aithereya aranyaka etc exist now. Dharma,( correct path to follow) Achara,(tradition) vidhi,(procedure and duty) nishedha (prohibitons) are some of the aspects talked about in these aranyakas. They are studied by those who resided in the forests. The Aranyakas constitute the Brahma kanda -the last section of Karma kanda( the treatise on rituals).Brahma Kanda pertains to the right course of conduct and Yajna and yagas. There are several more Brhamanas and Aranyanakas- Devatadhyaya, Samhthopanishad, Samavidhana, Panchavinsa(Tandya), Shadwinsha,Arsheya, Upanishad brahamana etc Upanishads are the vedanta-or the sirovedas.(Head of vedas ) vedanta -end of vedas .`end' meaning in both the senses that the last part as well as aim. �jnanam devath kaivalyam�-only knowledge can take you to the Absolute. And Upanishads are basic texts of true knowledge about Brhman and the Atman. ( Critics may not say that I have seperated these two and hence, by default these two are separate) There are 108 upanishads available to us with ten of them being the primary - Isa vasya, (since it starts with the famous axiom� isavasya midam sarvam � - Isa resides in everything) Kena, Katha, Prasna, Mundaka, Mandukya, Taittreya, Aithereya , Chandogya, Brahadaranyaka upanishads. It is my intention that I should be able to come out with atleast one page on each of these Upanishads. I already wrote an article on �Isa vasya midam sarvam� but since it iis sent for publication only recently, I am desisting from reproducing the same here.Also, it is written in my mother tongue ,hence it requires time to translate it. next |
Introduction Vedas Vedangas Praathisakhas Anukramanikas Upavedas Agamas Nine names of Vedas. Rg Veda Yajur Veda Sama Veda Atharva Veda purusha suktam |
| by kishore patnaik |
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| page is revised on 15th February, 2004 |
| The Vedas |
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