For the last several years, Pandit Satyakam Vidyalankar and myself have been busy on the English translation of the Rigveda. This is only a part of our big project in which we propose to bring out the transla-tions of various other Vedic texts, particularly the Vedic Samhitas. The Rig Samhita has 10,589 verses, the Yajur 1,975, the Samaveda 1,875, and the Atharva 5,977 verses, and thus the total comes to 20,416 verses. Pandit Satyakam, with his great qualities of head and heart and with his love for music and poetry, is the right person to have been assigned the task of selecting something like one thousand verses out of this entire stock for the benefit of entire humanity. We are very much obliged to the publishers for the excellent production of this Vedic Anthology. Humanity is proud of this most ancient heritage and it has been the most amazing accomplishment of man-kind to have preserved this divine literature to this day under all hazards and vicissitudes of history.
The Vedas constitute the back-bone of our entire culture and development through the millennia not only in India but also abroad. For most of us, they constitute the first literature that dawned on us at the earliest time of man's appearance on this globe. In India, we regard them as the revealed knowledge. What the effulgent sun is to animate and inanimate activity on the terrestrial earth, the Vedic enlightenment is to the prestigious life of man on this planet for the majority of humanity. Man with his most highly evolved physico-psychic complex is a gem in our divine creation, much above the animal level. For his fulfilment, the necessary code of conduct is incorporated in the Vedic texts. It is the most precious gift to humanity from our benign Creator and Lord.
The four Vedas contain the divine, infallible knowledge revealed to those primal men whose soul was specially illumined by the grace of God to receive and impart to humanity the words of Almighty God. The purpose of this revelation was to enlighten and spread Godly knowledge to man so that he may live a happy life in this world, be aware of his innate divinity and try to realise eternal bliss.
The Vedas are the sacred heritage not only of India but of all mankind. But however, till now the translations and interpretations of these sacred books have been made use of mostly by historians and scholars. Modern man has not been able to draw inspiration and guidance from them to rise above the mundane, the physical and the metaphysical to achieve harmony with his Creator.
These simple and lucid verses continue to inspire all, including contemporary lovers of philosophy. In matter, in form and in variety, Vedic hymns can claim a place among the most ancient and deep philosophies of any civilization and yet continue to have relevance to the world of today and tomorrow.
In this book an attempt has been made to bring together such representative hymns which encompass all the aspects enshrined in the Vedas. I have also tried to retain the spirit of the original Sanskrit mantras in my English renderings and to impart some of the holy ambience of these sacred texts which are the fountain-head of Hindu philosophy and culture.
Vedas (1182)
Upanishads (493)
Puranas (624)
Ramayana (741)
Mahabharata (354)
Dharmasastras (165)
Goddess (496)
Bhakti (242)
Saints (1503)
Gods (1289)
Shiva (370)
Journal (187)
Fiction (60)
Vedanta (362)
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