The Veda and the Vedanta

   The 'Veda' is said to be 'apourusheya', not spoken and never written by any humans. However, 'purusha' means the one who resides in the pura or body. The Rk Veda emphatically says, "the Supreme Lord Narayana resides as 'agni deva' the heat in the body- shikhaya madhye vyavasthitaa | Hence the question is who speaks and who hears what is spoken? Unless a person goesint transcendental meditative mode and asks oneself what is all this, there cannot be any decisive answer. However, once a person gets a 'vision' of the Lord and hears what He speaks, there will be no further doubt in this regards. All most all the great sages have ahd darshan and they do not aks the question. Fo instance, Sr Aurobindo had darshan of Shree Krishna in the Alipore jail and used to see the Lord everywhere! Sri Ramakrishna had the vision of Kali after a long period of his stay in the Kali temple seeing the worship of the devi. This 'God-visioning' is not a big deal since the supreme Lord resides as antaryamin within one's Self and can be visualized as and when there is an intent and desire to see and talk to Him.Sri Ramakishna says, "parameshvara darshanam eve purushartha sadhanam". In fact, visioning God, 'darshan', is the first step in spiritual pursuits and, not the end by itself!

   Now coming to the Veda, the Vedic hymns (Rks), especially of the Rk Veda Samhita, is the sound heard from the parame vyoman, the akash. In these days of cell phones, it is not a great achievement to hear the voice coming via communication satellites.We can talk with persons thousand of miles away at the press of a button on the mobile phones. So also, a person who sits with contempaltive mode, thinks of the Lord with concentration, and, of course, with the knowledge of the scriptures, will soon hear the Lord! A contemplative mode, chitta ekagrata, is a must. Now, the Veda asserts that any spiritual seeker or sadhaka should have heard at least one Rk (mantra) to be qualified as a Rishi, drashtara (visionary). Hence, it is very essential to understand the Veda as the voice heard from a higher intuitive source, may call it God's voice (deva vani).

   What is it one hears as the mantra (Rk) from parame vyoman? Well this is the most enigmatic one! We do not understand this unless we get a thorough knowledge of Sri Vidya, particularly, devi Saraswati as vaag devi who breathes unto us without Herself breathing! The sound of breath emanating from  different parts of the body as the syllables 'aum' (Om), the Gayatree mantra, or the syllables- aim, hrIM, klIM, ShreeM, hsou, etc. Every syllable of the alphabets (akshara) here is the potent mantra, may be of one syllable (ekakshari), or multiple syllables, words, or long unintelligible jumble of syllables, or simply all the syllables of the Samskruta bhasha (deva bhasha) without any order or sequence (akshara malini) like the children babble while learning how to speak. 

What is the potent syllable or word (Mantra) of the Veda (Rk)?

  The Rk Veda is supposed to be a text of 10552 Rks in about 1028 suktas in Ten Mandalas eulogizing the elemental Gods like agni, rudra, varuna, marut, ashvins, etc. These mantra create the universe, sustain it and also dissolve it at the appropriate time. The process of creation and the primordial matter (God-particle?) have already been discussed in the previous blogs. Everything manifests from brahmn; time, space,  causality, have its source here in sound waves, vibration, the chit-shakti or pure consciousness (shuddha vidya). Not all the suktas have been satisfactorily explained by the scholars of repute and it is very difficult, too. Even Sayana, the pradhana amatya of the Vijayanagara empire admits that he does not know the meaning of 400 words in the Veda. His brother, an eminent scholar from Sringeri (Karnataka), Madhava has given us some idea about all the four divisions of the Veda. There are many other scholars who have given commentary on some Vedic suktas and we do not consider them to be authentic since the transliterations of the Veda in foreign languages may not yield the desired results. Desired results shall be experienced only when one hears the Vedic hymns rendered with perfect pronunciation and the sound of the Rks affect our nerves and neurons when keenly, intensely, heard with rapt attention. Mere reading the translations will not help. srunyeva jarbhari turfareetu | speaks of the Rks that do not mean anything! May be, these Rks convey knowledge of brahmn that is unintelligible to even the renown scholars.
    The samaveda has 1549 mantra that the Vedic students sing Rks in the praise of the Vedic gods. The phonetic perfection is very important here. The Veda mantra are of highly esoteric nature and there are single or of few syllables that may be dummy (space filler or to give musical note), or of sarcastic nature (vyangyartha) or simply misleading the scholars or may be, have secret notes (gudartha). The rendering of the Veda mantra demands the highest order of phonetic perfection in order to deliver the effect of the meaning and purport. Further, it is forbidden to write down the Veda mantra or interpret it giving transliterations; it is strictly intended only for singing and hearing the veda mantra. Hence, it is foolish to talk about the Veda without knowing what it means!
   In fact, the Veda is one's own Self. ( A copy of "Decoding the Veda- Rk Veda Samhita", by the author can be had for free by e-mail attachment or Book post).

  Now, as regards the Vedanta, it is the culmination of the Veda, in brief. There are at least 108 Upanishads that deal with creation, mantra, yoga, the ultimate reality, the Atman, emancipation of the embodied soul (mukti, moksha), and such other aspects. These are like different University Departments dealing with specialized aspects of  the mantra, creation, atman, brahman, moksha, embodiment of the jiva, etc. imparted by eminent attained sages to their pupils. The ten most important upanishads have been taken for detailed discussion by Sri Shankaracharya. The Ramakrishna Mission has published a number of them. We have given summary of almost sixty upanishads in "Vedanta- Knowledge Supreme" published by Gyan Books, Delhi, 2004.

   Thus, the Veda and the Vedanta remain a challenge for the scholars and not all have properly understood these well. This has led to lot of misunderstandings and misinterpretations.  The problem is that students are not interested in these studies, except in some Samskruta pathashala (school or college), since these do not give them jobs and livelihood in theses days. Further, these studies should be made keeping in mind the recent advancement made in science subjects also. Mere knowledge of samskruta bhasha will not help. One should know quantum mechanics, particle physics, biotechnology and DNA studies along with Rk Veda sukta and Upanishad knowledge. Half knowledge is dangerous. This calls for totality, oneness. The Veda is one and One only, and there are no two- 1. the person who knows it, 2. the subject to be known!
   Jnyan only exists, like the Sun only shines, and all else are its manifest forms.  
We will discuss more about the Veda in the next few blogs.