Vedic Philosophy

The Vedas are the oldest written text on our planet today. They date back to the beginning of Indian civilization and are the earliest literary records of the human mind.

They have been passed through oral tradition for over 10,000 years, and first appeared in written form between 2500 - 5,000 years ago.

Veda means "knowledge" in sanskrit. Sanskrit was the language of Vedic civilization. Vedic culture, based on Vedic scriptures (sastras) called Vedas, flourished all over the ancient world with center in India, formerly known as Bharata-varsa. Vedas are the most ancient literary works on Earth, at the same time with the profoundest and widest scope. They cover all fields of knowledge, material and spiritual. The real treasures of the East weren't jewels, spices or exotic perfumes - but the amazing treasure house of sacred and universal knowledge. This knowledge, increasingly validated by modern science, is now being embraced by leading corporations, professionals and leaders around the world. Our recent scientific and technological efforts can only to some extent approach the ancient Vedic material advancement while the Vedic spirituality is much more elevated than anything we can find in the West.

Vedas are vast and variegated, VEDA specifically focuses on Gaudiya Vaishnava Vedanta, the cream of Vedic philosophy, expounded by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, avatar of this Kali age, and brought to the West by its foremost recent exponent Sri Srimad A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. You can find more details about this site and its development in About VEDA.

The Ancient Vedic Hymns

Rig Veda - Knowledge of Hymns, 10,859 verses

“There is only one truth, only men describe it in different ways.”

Yajur Veda - Knowledge of Liturgy, 3,988 verses

Sama Veda - Knowledge of Classical Music, 1,549 verses

Ayur Veda - Knowledge of Medicine, over 100,000 verses

The Wonder of Reincarnation

As a river nears the ocean it looks back at its life. The virgin snows on mountain-tops that gave birth to it. The lake down below which was its nursery. The travel through mountain passes where it met its tributaries and gained adulthood. The

solitude and tranquility of the forests, the singing of the birds, the lush green valleys laden with wheat, corn and rice. The adventurous ride through cities, gladly accepting their refuse and sometimes flooding them as if in a fit of anger. Thousands of experiences and hundreds of memories. And now its imminent merger into a bigger entity. Its losing of the shores which defined it and gave it its uniqueness. What a trip!

Merging into the ocean however is just a brief stopover. The water evaporates leaving behind all its impurities in the ocean, the clouds drop snow on a different mountain-top, the snow melts and water feeds into a different river and keeps the neverending cycle going.

Might nature have fashioned the human life and for that matter every type of life in the same manner? A life force appearing in its mortal form, going through its journey, disappearing into a bigger entity and after being cleansed and rejuvenated, reappearing at a different time and at a different place in a new mortal garb. Does that somehow show us that we should revere the life force within and not indulge in worshipping the external attributes provided to

it by Providence? Should this shared life force provide for a common bond between all living beings or should we let ourselves be consumed by our petty differences? And if we choose the latter, would that not be an affront to the very essence of nature?

For more thoughts click on the Vedic Thought

FYI: There are many external links (text with blue color) in the post, please use them for more information and to check for terminologies.