Ancient Indian Scriptures

 Ancient Indian history dates back to at least 10 000 years. There are scriptures that are dated back to the beginning of the present Vaivasvata manvantara of which the last quarter Kaliyuga is under way! The satyayuga had the great sages like Nara-narayana followed by treta yuga with Sri Ramachandra emerging as a divine purusha. He is followed by Shree Krishna taking birth as a yugapurusha, Bhagavan, to restore dharma at the end of dvapara yuga with Shree Krishna as Bhagavan (God). And, now, the present era of Kali also may end sooner or latter. We do not know what will happen at the end of this Kali yuga when dharma has already declined. It is also stated that "No God will descend from the Heavens and one of us should emerge as a divine being tp restores of dharma." 

  The exact calculation of time is ambiguous and not possible to strictly say as 'so many' years. One year may be of too short a duration during the Vivasvanta manvantara when the earth was just in its gaseous state! Now, one year is calculated as per the time taken for one revolution of the earth around the sun (365 days 5 Hrs.). So there is no consistency as to the duration of one year during each one of the last six manvantaras! Thus, we cannot say anything about the time of early history, mythology. The geographical description of Bharatavarsha (India) in many epics are worth a detailed study in this regard.

  Now, as to the scriptures, scholars may interpret the works of the learned Sage Vedavyasa according to their depth of knowledge and understanding. They may bring in folk lores here, or go to sing and dance keeping the epics as a source for lyrics. There are scholars who interpret intelligently, but none so far, go deep into the spiritual or adhyatmic content in them. In fact the hidden meaning (goodaartha) should be decoded properly in order to understand it. In this respect, the entire Ramayana culminates in our own self! Our soul is Rama and the body made of soil supported by food is Sita, The nervous system is Lakshmana and, the Life-force is Lord Hanuman (Pranadeva)! So also, the epic Mahabharata is also a mystery. There are no Pandava Kings since Pandu died or disappeared on the very day of his marriage with Kunti Devi; they are all blessed manasa putra, respectively, of Yama, Indra, Vayudeva, and Ashvins (by chanting the mantra) given to Divine Mother Kunti who shared with Devi Madri (who also died with Pandu). The sacred words (mantra) given by the great siddhi purusha was first tried by Kunti even as girl of eight and got Karna in her hand (born with diamond ear studs and a chest as hard as diamond)! Where are the hundred Kaurava, but for our own imagination There is no Blind King, nor a Vidura as his Minister (amatya)? These are of the nature of stories, poetic imagination, fiction, or mythology, or spiritual characters intelligently narrated by the learned sage Vedavyasa! Only a Yogi contemplating on these characters will realize the truth!

  According to the fundamental principle that "Atman knows all" (Atmavaivedgm sarvam) All knowledge comes from within and ends there within. This is the principle of so'ham asmi! Meaning, "But, for my Self, what else is there?". The soul is one like the Full Moon that shines in a hundred pots full of water! The learned sages advise us to know the principle first! The narratives are all derived from Principles and all narratives merge in Principles at the end.

   Now, the intellectuals who study the scriptures have option to narrate stories for children as moral or go deep into the hidden meaning of all that is narrated in a specialized way of research. Many scholars have already taken up this research work. However, there is a lot to unearth from these scriptures and many manuscripts stored in the house of pundits and scholars of yester years have not seen the light of the day, yet! Prof Satyendranath Dasgupta has published History of Indian Philosophy (5 Vols.) in the University of  London.