| Specifications |
| Publisher: Arsh Sahitya Prachar Trust | |
| Author: Dr. Tulsi Ram | |
| Language: Sanskrit Text with Transliteration and English Translation | |
| Pages: 4456 | |
| Cover: Hardcover | |
| 8.5 inch x 6.0 inch | |
| Weight 5.70 kg | |
| Edition: 2013 | |
| NAK542 |
| Delivery and Return Policies |
| Returns and Exchanges accepted within 7 days | |
| Free Delivery |
About the Book
Rgveda is the Veda of knowledge:
Knowledge of existence, Being and Becoming, from the
Zero hour to 2400 hours of cosmic time in this cycle of creation. At the Zero
hour, the state of Being, whatever it was or was not, is beyond thought and words
because thought and words 'then' did not exist. There was neither 'Sat' nor 'Asat', neither Being nor non-Being: everything we call
'existent' or 'non-existent' in our language lay asleep, deep in the Dark,
darker than Darkness itself, except That Eternal One with Its own potential, Svadha, awake as ever, self- breathing without breath and
air (Nasadiya Sukta, 10, 129). That one moved to
thought and Sankalpa, and that Sankalpa
was the Big Bang when the zero state of time and existence exploded into Rtam and Satyam, the Constant and the Mutable, according to
the Ratm Law of Mutability. There the creative
evolution started (10, 190). Rgveda describes the
tri-union of Ishvara, Jiva and Prakrti
(Nature), the evolution of Prakrti into thought SA(Satva), energy (Rajas), and
matter (Tamas), the various divine reflections of the
One Divinity into Its existential manifestations such as Agni, Vayu, Indra, Soma and others, various material, biological and
post-biological forms, the nature and character of the individual and society,
corporate living, and the Divine Covenant, Communion and Reunion of the human
with the Divine. Rgveda begins with the individual's
connection with Agni, parental power, light, inspiration and life of life, and
ends with the social commandment: Live and move together, speak together, know
one another's mind in unison, and all of you observe your Dharma as the wise of
all time do, to achieve your goals in life (10, 191).
According to Rgveda, the
universe is an expansive universe, a Virat Purusha, a real, living breathing, intelligent, organismic, self-organising, self-conscious, sovereign
system, the Soul of which, immanent and transcendent, is the Supreme
Brahma(10,90).
About the
Author
Dr. Tulsi
Ram Sharma M.A., English (Delhi, 1949), Ph.D. (London, 1963) has been a university
professor, academic administrator, researcher, and writer of long standing with
prestigious assignments.
Besides his professional studies of secular
literature in English, Hindi, Sanskrit and Urdu, Dr. Tulsi
Ram Sharma has devoted his life and time to the study and discipline of Sacred
literature specially Vedas, Upanishads, Darshan
Philosophy, Puranas, Ramayana, Mahabharata with concentration on the Bhagwad Gita, Greek, Roman, Sumerian and English Epics, Gathas of Zarathustra, Bible, Quran, and the writings of
Swami Dayananda, and Swami Vivekananda, in search of
the essential values of Sanatan Vedic Dharma with
reference to their realisation in life and literature through social attitudes,
collective action, customs, traditions, rituals and religious variations across
the fluctuations of history.
Foreword
Veda Bhashya by Prof. Tulsiram
- A step to make Vedas available to the English World
I have had the privilege of going through some of
the chapters of Yajurveda Bhashya written by Prof. Tulsiram,
a well known Vedic scholar and author of English language and literature. I
congratulate him because he has done this translation for an average English
reader who is keen to know the Vedas. Knowledge of the Vedas is like the
knowledge of science. Vedic language is a scientific language and nobody can
understand that without the profound knowledge of Vedangas,
especially Nirukta of Maharshi Yaska
and the grammar of Panini and Patanjali. Nobody can interpret the Veda mantras
without these two. This translation proves that Prof. Tulsiram
has done this insightful translation after doing hard work in both Vedangas.
In translating the Vedas, only literal meaning is
just not sufficient, sometimes it may create confusion and contradiction. Prof.
Tulsiram deeply merges himself into Vedic Mantras,
thinking deeply about words, derivatives and analyzes the hidden nuances of
meaning in their context. For example, 'Sumitriya na aapa oshadhayah
santu .
Yajur.
36, 23': If we take literal meaning in the ordinary sense, "may the
waters, vital forces of life, and herbs be friendly to us and may they be
enemies to those who hate us and whom we hate", it will not make
acceptable sense. After raising some questions, he says, "How can we
accept this?" So, after going deeply into the words and context he gives
this meaning of the said mantra: May
waters, tonics, pranic energies and medicinal herbs
be good friends of our health system and immunity and let the same waters,
tonics, pranic energies herbal medicines act against
those ailments, diseases and negativities which injure us, which we hate to suffer and which we love
to destroy, moreover let them have no side effects because side effects too
help the negativities and injure us.
After giving the actual sense of the Mantra he
writes that this Mantra is a reasonable prayer for the health programme of an
advanced society, and then, logically in the next Mantra, follows the prayer
for a full hundred years and more of life and healthy living (Tacchakshurdevahitam purastat-Yajur.36,24).
The translation by Prof. Tulsiram
is without any extraneous motive and without any extra-academic intention. The
translation has been done purely as communication of the Vedic message for the
welfare of mankind.
While giving his opinion on the Vedas Prof. Tulsiram writes in his Introduction .
Veda is the Voice of God revealed in scientific Vedic Sanskrit free from local
color and historical facts, therefore Vedic language is to be interpreted and
understood according to its own laws and structure, and the only key available
for such interpretation is the Nirukta of Maharshi Yaska and the grammar of Panini & Patanjali. According to
Maharshi Dayananda Saraswati, 'without reference to
these bases of Vedic interpretation certain words have been given a distorted
meaning in the translations of Max Muller, Griffith, Whitney and even Sayana.'
Actually the torch light for proper translation today, as Aurobindo says, is
the Arsha tradition followed by Maharshi Dayananda Saraswati.
At the end I will say that this translation of
Yajurveda, based on Nirukta and Grammar, follows the
known ancient Indian tradition. It is factual, without prejudice or hidden
motive. Prof. Tulsiram thinks deeply on every word of
the mantra, looks into the context and etymology according to Nirukta and then does the translation. I congratulate him
on this one more pioneering step to make the knowledge of Vedas available to
the western world and the average English knowing reader. May God give him long
and healthy life so that he continues to do this kind of stupendous work.
Introduction
This translation of Rgveda
is meant for an average English knowing reader who is keen to know:
What is Veda? What is it all about? Is it old or
new?
If it's old, what is its relevance today? And if it
is relevant, is it relevant to me also? Or is it relevant only to some
particular community in some particular country at some particular time?
These are relevant questions especially in an age of
science, democracy and globalism.
Veda is Divine Knowledge in metalanguage.
The very word 'Veda' means knowledge. It is derived from the root 'vid', which means: 'to be, to know, to think, to benefit
from' and 'to communicate' .
So whatever is is Veda:
the very world of existence is Veda. The knowledge of the world of existence is
Veda. The extension of knowledge through thought and research further is Veda.
And to use that knowledge for the benefit of mankind with the protection and
preservation of nature and the environment, without hurting any form of life,
that is Veda.
Veda is knowledge, pure and simple, as science is
knowledge. Science is knowledge of nature as nature is and as it works
according to its own laws. In science, there is no story, no history. Similarly
in the Veda, there is no story, no history. And just as science is knowledge in
scientific language free from local colour and historical variations of form
and meaning, so Veda too is knowledge in scientific language free from local
colour and historical variations. Therefore Vedic language has to be
interpreted and understood according to the laws and technique of its own
structure as stated by seers such as Yaska, Panini
and Patanjali and as explained by Swami Dayananda in
his grammatical works and his notes on Vedic words in his commentary on the
Vedas.
But there is a difference between scientific
knowledge and Vedic knowledge: While science is knowledge of nature to the
extent that man has been able to discover it, Veda is the quintessential
knowledge of all that is, including Nature and humanity, all that happens, all
that we are, all that we do, and all that we reap in consequence of our action.
It is the Original and Universal knowledge of the Reality of Existence and the Ideality of our aspirations, covering the facts and
processes of existence, their interaction and the laws that operate in the
interaction. In short, Veda is an eternal articulation of Omniscience, The
Voice of God.
Vedic knowledge is classified thematically into
three: Stuti, Prarthana and
Upasana. Stuti, praise, is
solemn reverential remembrance and description of the attributes, nature,
character and function of divine powers. Prarthana,
prayer, is an autosuggestive resolution to realise
our limitations and rise above those limitations by calling on Divinity for aid
and blessings when we have exhausted our effort and potential. Upasana is meditation, the surrender of our limited
identity to open out and participate in the Divine Presence. Stuti implies knowledge (Janana),
Prarthana implies humility and action (Karma), and Upasana implies total love and surrender (Bhakti). In
consequence, formally, Vedic knowledge is divided into four:
Rgveda is the Veda of Knowledge,
Yajurveda is the Veda of Karma, Samaveda is the Veda of Bhakti, and Atharva-veda is Brahma Veda, an umbrella, celebrating the
Divine Presence as in Book 10, hymns 7 and 8.
Rgveda is the Veda of knowledge
revealed by Parameshvara, Lord Supreme Himself. All
the four Vedas were received by the primeval Rshis from
That Supreme Divinity (Rgveda, 10, 90, 9). That
Supreme power and presence is One and only one, wise
sages call it by many names such as Agni, Indra, Mitra, Varuna and others. That
one Lord creates this wonderful world of many forms and pervades it simultaneously
(6, 47,18). The creative evolution begins from that
and when one cycle is complete, the involution ends up therein (10, 129, 7). The light of the sun radiates from there (10,37,3), the streams of life flow from there through the
medium of five elements (1, 164, 3). We' too come from there and retire unto That when the existential sojourn terminates (8, 44, 23),
that is the covenant of man and God. The truth of Vedas is eternal (5, 25, 2). Law is eternal (4, 23, 8).
Our life is a lovely sojourn of our active and
intelligent choice (5, 1, 2; 6, 15, 9) in the fivefold body (5, 47,5), or outside the body (1, 164,30), in a homely paradise
on earth (6, 120, 3), or in a fools paradise (9, 64,
20-1). Therefore the one basic commandment of Vedas is "Be man",
intelligent human being (10, 53, 6), be a visionary which you ought to be (1,
31, 6), in the category of Deva, godliness (1,68,2), remembering fully well that each one comes alone for
a short time (10, 97, 5), to live in a house of clay (8, 44, 23) which is not
our ultimate destination. Therefore our self- fulfilment lies through breaking
the threefold bonds of body, mind and spiritual ignorance (1, 24, 15), rise
beyond the darkness and reach the light Divine (1, 50, 10). The Light is our
real potential as children of Immortality, unhurt, imperishable (1, 148,5).
Rgveda begins with an invocation
and prayer to Agni, Lord of light and energy, giver of life and light, the
first, original and ultimate High-priest of the yajna
of creative evolution and ends with a prayer to Agni for the gift of the
fragrance and nectar of yajnic life from the vedi of the earth. It exhorts humanity to live together in
creative and cooperative unity, to act and move together, to speak together,
and to think together for a united decision and common achievement, knowing
each other's mind in harmony in the same tradition as the ancient wise followed
in the performance of Dharma.
Rgveda gives a clear picture of
the socio-political and economic organisation of humanity from the local to the
international level. The Vedic word for a brilliant, enlightened, sovereign
republic is Swarajya (3, 49, 2; 3,46,
1; 3, 45,5; 1, 36, 7). The word for such an organisation is Rashtra.
For such a Rashtra, efforts have to be made (1, 80,9), there should be three assemblies: the Executive,
Legislature, the Law and Order and Defence forces (3, 38, 6), and the
Educational Authority. The ruler and the assemblies have to be elected by the
people from amongst the educated and socially dedicated people (Atharva, 3, 4, 2). Yajurveda and Atharva-
Veda provide further details. The Vedic ideal of any human organisation and its
law is that the organisation, in order to be just, creative, productive and
egalitarian, must be an organism, a living, intelligent, self-organising,
autonomous sovereign system.
The universe, the social system too, is a Purusha, a person (10, 90,2) of
which the intellectual is the spokesman of values, of knowledge, rectitude and
piety, the law and order and defence forces are the guards, the produces are
providers, and the ancillary services are assistants, all governed by law which
should be a human version of Rtam, the law of Nature
and Divinity governing the universe.
There are many other Themes as prayers to Parameshvara, divine attributes of the forces of Nature,
attributes, potential and limitations of the individual soul, life and death,
individual freedom, marriage and family life, free social mobility under the
Verna-Ashrama Dharma based on merit, precreation
stage of existence (10, 129, 1-7) which was the Zero state which we can
describe neither as existence nor as non-existence: There 'was' or, may be,
there 'was not':
It was the state of Zero Absolute,
The Hour beyond the hour.
No night, no day, no life nor death,
No existence, nor no-existence,
Darkness beyond the dark.
Silence, mother of speech,
Void, mother of space and time,
THAT One beyond the name,
Breathing alone without breath Ever
awake.
The flow consumed in the point of no dimensions
Potential Infinity.
This is Vision beyond the vision of mind, the
mystery of Rgveda.
Between this point of Potential Infinity for
creation and the time of cosmic dissolution there is the evolutionary and
involuntary interplay of natural forces Agni, Indra,
Soma, Pusha, Vaishvanara, Ashvins, Savita, Maruts, Sarasvati, heaven and
earth, and the social dynamics of humanity for four billion and three hundred
and twenty million years, a drama of infinite variety, ultimately all sucked in
into the mysterious Black Hole, and then the breath out, back again.
So, says Rgveda, be good,
do good, and make the world noble (Rg.
9, 63, 5).
Samaveda is Bhaktiveda in
song, a symphony of Veda mantras chiefly from Rgveda
in celebration of the Truth, Beauty and Goodness of life and the Power, Glory, Sublimity and Beatitude of Divinity. It begins with an
invitation to Agni, Light and Life of the universe, moves to Indra, the Power and Glory of Divinity and then to Beatific
Soma, divine Spirit of peace and universal joy, and ends with thanks and prayer
to All-listening Indra, All-embracing Pusha, inviolable Tarkshya, and Brhaspati, Lord of Infinity, for the gifts of peace,
progress, prosperity and total well being.
Yajurveda is Karma Veda, knowledge of the
application of knowledge in practical living in a positive, creative and
constructive manner at both the individual and the collective level. This way
of living and working is "Yajna" which, in
simple words, means a selfless and participative way of living and thereby
creating the maximum out of the minimum for all, including nature, humanity,
the environment and the whole universe, with complete faith in the living,
breathing, intelligent self-organising, self-conscious, Sovereign System.
Living the yajnic way, we realise that Nature is an organisn, a tree, Ashwattha, and
the entire cosmos including ourselves is a Purusha,
and we as human beings are but cells in this Divine Purusha.
Without living this way in a state of full awareness, we cannot realise that
you and I, Mother Nature and the Supreme Brahma are all together, one in union
and communion.
Vedic knowledge then is the Divine knowledge of
existence from the dimensionless point and particle unto Infinity. And
prayerful living and communion in meditation and yoga means: Self-integration
of the particle, Re- integration of the part with the whole, and Re-Union of
the finite with the Infinite.
This is the climactic close of Yajurveda: The light
and life that shines in and beyond the sun is that Supreme Purusha.
That is there, and that is here, in me too.
Om is the saviour. Om is Bramha.
Bramha is Infinite, Sublime!
The message of Yajurveda begins with the rousing
divine call to live: "Be vibrant as the winds!" But we must be
gratefully vibrant: "0 Lord we pray for and thank thee for the gift of
food and energy for life, for the health and efficiency of body, mind and
soul." All of us must dedicate ourselves to Savita,
giver of life and light, with devotion to the highest, yajnic,
action, we must not hurt the 'Cow', and we must not allow a thief to boss over
us and deprive us of our creative freedom of thought, word and deed.
Atharva- Veda is Brahma Veda,
umbrella knowledge of existence both Murtta and Amurtta, concrete and abstract. It is the knowledge of Prakrti, Mother Nature, as well as of Purusha,
the Soul, the individual Jiva as well as the Cosmic Soul Brahma. It begins with
a celebrative description of the thrice-seven variant evolutes of Prakrti and a prayer to Vachaspati,
Lord of Nature and the Word of Knowledge, to bless us with strength, energy,
intelligence and knowledge emanating from those thrice-seven forms of the world
of Nature and Spirit. It covers the world of humanity from the individual to
the total collective personality of humanity, including social structures from
the family, community and the nation up to the international United Nations. It
pays homage to Divinity, Jyeshtha Brahma, Supreme
Presiding Spirit and Power, immanent and transcendent, which creates and
sustains and winds up the world of existence in each cycle of creation,
eternally (10, 7-8, and 19,6). Towards the end Atharva-
Veda pays homage to Brahma and Mother Veda with thanks for the gifts of good
health and full age, vibrant pranic energy, noble
progeny, ample wealth, fame, lasting achievement and divine lustre of life.
These are the gifts of Vedic knowledge in life, and when one cycle of existence
reaches the hour of completion, the Mother Knowledge returns to her eternal and
Original abode, Jyeshtha Brahma Itself, the mighty,
mysterious, awful Silence, impenetrable Darkness, Smaller than the smallest
conceivable, yet Greater than the greatest imaginable, the Original and
Ultimate Home of all that matter, energy, thought and Speech is, beyond time
and space.
As you open the text of Rg
Veda, you find the words: Agni, Madhucchanda Rshi. 'Devata' here means the subject which is dealt with
in the mantra. 'Devata' as a Vedic term means a presence, a power, a force, which
is brilliant, illuminative, and generous. The 'Devata' of a mantra may be God,
the One Sacchidananda Brahma as in the closing mantra
quoted above, or Savita, the same One self-refulgent
God as in the opening mantra of Yajurveda, or it can be a generous divine power
of Nature such as the sun, moon, earth; or it can be a noble person of
brilliant quality of nature, character and performance as a ruler, leader,
commander, teacher, etc. What the 'Devata' means in any particular mantra
depends on the total context that emerges from the mantra in its thematic
environment of the hymn.
Madhucchanda is the Rshi
of the opening mantra. The Rshi in the Arsha tradition is not the author of the mantra, Rshi is the exponent of the meaning of the mantra. As
Maharshi Yaska says in the Nirukta,
Rshis are the 'seers of the mantras: they are the
sages who went into deep meditation unto the universal frequency of the Cosmic
Mind and experienced the voice of Divinity speaking in the mantra, the mantra,
a semantic correspondence of the Divine Voice, the Divine Voice, a sound
correspondence of Divine Awareness of the Reality of Existence in the modes of
Being and Becoming.
Who then is the poet of the Vedas? The answer is in
Yajurveda 40,8: That Cosmic Spirit which pervades and
rules every moving particle in the moving universe is "the poet, thinker,
all-comprehending, and self-existent". That is the Lord who creates the
world of existence, ordains the Laws of its dynamics, and reveals the poetry of
its beauty and majesty, the Vedas. "From that Lord of universal yajna were born the Rks and Samans. From Him were born the Chhandas
of Atharva-veda and from Him were born the Yajus", (Yajurveda 31, 7). The Vedic lore comes in Pura-kalpa, the beginning of the world of humanity (Shvetashvataropanishad, 6, 22) and when its function is
over at the end of the kalpa, one cycle of existence,
it retires into Brahma-loka (Atharvaveda 19, 71, 1).
The Vedas were revealed by the Lord Omniscient to
four primeval Rshis: Rgveda
to Agni, Yajurveda to Vayu, Samaveda to Aditya, and Atharva-veda
to Angira, directly in their spiritual consciousness.
The Sage Brahma received and collected the four from them and passed them on to
other sages.
When were the Vedas revealed? What is their age? How
old are they? As old as the age of humanity on earth.
The Lord who creates humanity leaves them not to nature like animals. He
enlightens them with the knowledge of existence and their place in the world
with the vision of their journey and its culmination. Swami Dayananda
works out the age of the Vedas on the basis of Surya Siddhanta
which in the year 2010 A.D. comes to 1,96,08,53,110 years.
If someone does not accept it and insists on
historical proof, let us listen to Max Muller from whom we learn of the problem
of the date or dates but with no possibility of solution on scientific and
historical grounds.
Max Muller is known as a world renowned Vedic
scholar and exegesist of the West. Max Muller once
ventured to pronounce a purely arbitrary date based on unproven assumptions
that around 1200 B.C. was the date of the Rgveda.
Later, he himself warned his students that "Whether the Vedic Hymns were
composed in 1000 or 1500 or 2000 B.C., no power on earth could ever fix ....
Whatever may be the date of the Vedic hymns ... they have their own unique
place and stand by themselves". Such daring presumptions of western
scholars about the date of the Vedas are exposed by Graham Hancock in his
latest researches, in his explosive book: Underworld: The Mysterious Origins of
Civilization (2002).
Hancock first gives the range of dates accepted by
Western scholars such as Max Muller and Dr. Mitchiner,
a great authority on ancient Sanskrit texts: Vedas 1500-800 BC, Brahmanas 900-600 BC, Aranyakas
700-500 BC, Upanishads 600-400 BC, Mahabharata 350 BC-50 AD, Ramayana 250
BC-200AD, Puranas AD 200-1500. "Amazing!" says he: "Whether
starting in 1500 BC, 1400 BC or 1200 BC, the timelines, suggested for the
compilation and codification of the Vedas, all rest on the now thoroughly
falsified and bankrupt (and rejected) idea of an Aryan invasion of India around
1500 BC". He continues: 'There was no such thing as an Aryan race that
spoke Indo -European languages and authored the Vedas, there was no such event
as an Aryan invasion of India. 'Arya' does not mean a race,
it means a noble, educated and cultured person. So once the hypothesis of the
Aryan invasion is rejected, the structure of the supposed dates of the Vedas
and other texts crumbles like a house of cards.' And then he sums up his view of
the Western approach to the Vedas and Indian civilization: "Almost
everything that was ever written about this literature and civilization before
five years ago (i.e., before 1997) is wrong." (See pp. 131, 116, 129)
Max Muller himself in his Gifford Lectures in 1890
had confessed that "no power on earth could ever fix" the date of the
Vedas. Even Mitchiner himself concedes that "the
dating of Sanskrit texts is a notoriously difficult problem" (Quoted !bid p. 131).
Who could then possibly speak the truth about
ancient Indian civilisation and the Vedic literature? Says Hancock (p. 105):
"Perhaps we are coming to a time when ancient India will speak for herself
again after millennia of silence." It was Swami Dayananda
who spoke for India and the Vedas in the Rshis'
tradition after millennia of silence to correct the distortions of Indian
history and redeem Vedic literature and the Vedic tradition.
If no history, no Science, no human imagination can
help, better follow the sages tradition, Surya Siddhanta, and the daily sankalpa
of the dedicated Brahmanas. And lastly follow the
internal evidence of the Vedas themselves: Vedas are the Original, Universal,
Eternal articulation of Divinity, by Divinity, for humanity at the beginning of
human creation. (Yajurveda, 26, 2; Shvetashvataropanishad,
6, 18)
Since Vedas are the oldest recorded knowledge of the
world, no one can guess how much time, even ages, might have passed between the
Vedas and the next work in Sanskrit. If so, there is no other work in Sanskrit comparable
to the Vedas. Consequently the language of any other work would not provide any
clue for the interpretation of Veda mantras. Vedic language then has to be
interpreted on its own, and the only key available for such independent
interpretation is the Nirukta and Nighantu
of Maharshi Yaska, the grammatical works of Panini
and Patanjali, and Swami Dayananda's notes in his
commentary on Vedic verses explaining the structure and meaning of the words.
Without reference to these bases of Vedic interpretation, certain words have
been given a very distorted meaning in other
translations by Max Muller, Griffith, Whitney, and even Sayana. The torch light
for proper translation today is the Arsha tradition
followed by Swami Dayananda.
The Arsha way is the only
right way, the key, to discover the truth of the Vedas. According to Shri
Aurobindo, Swami Dayananda alone, in modem times,
possessed this key to the secret of the Vedas. Interpreted this way the Vedas
shine in their essential scientific refulgence. As science is pure knowledge,
no story, no history, no mythology, so are the Vedas, pure knowledge: knowledge
of nature, mind, spirit, human society, Dharma, the dynamics of existence and
the right way of living as individuals and as members of organised society upto the international level. Even Max Muller, though he
was once committed to uprooting the religion of India by his arbitrary
translation of Rgveda, had to admit in his
Biographical Essays that: "To Swami Dayananda,
everything contained in the Vedas was not only perfect truth, but he went one
step further and, by their interpretation, succeeded in persuading others that
everything worth knowing, eventhe most recent
inventions of modem science, were alluded to in the Vedas. Steam Engines,
Electricity, Telegraphy and Wireless Marconogram were
shown to have been at least in the germ known to the poets of the Vedas".
In fact Shri Aurobindo in his essay on "Dayananda
and the Veda" goes even further: "There is nothing fantastic in Dayananda's idea that Veda contains truth of science as
well as truth of religion (i.e., Dharma). I will even add my own conviction
that Veda contains other truths of a Science the modem world does not at all
possess, and in that case, Dayananda has rather
understated than overstated the depth and range of the Vedic wisdom (see 'Bankim, Tilak, Dayananda' , p. 57).
The basic requirement of scriptural interpretation
for us is faith and intelligential solemnity, not
doubt and cynicism. This way, if we want to confirm our faith in the scientific
vision of the Veda, refer to Rgveda 1, 34, 7 and 9
for three- stage rocket chariot of the Ashwins, to 1,
36, 18 for Agni missile, to 1, 37, 3 for winds and communication, to 1,46, 10
for concentration of light, to 1, 52, 1 and 1, 36, 1 for the science of missile
defence and space-craft, to 6, 46, 11 for missiles and war heads, and so on.
The position of the solar system with planets and satellites, earth's and sun's
gravitation, solar healing, parliamentary democracy, organisational structure
of the nation and the international world, water and electric energy, and so
many other subjects are hinted at in Vedic verses. We need serious research to
work out the details. Had even Einstein read the Purusha
Sukta of the Vedas, Brahma Sutras and Sankhya Vaisheshika philosophy, probably he would have found clues
to his search for Unified Field theory of the universe.
Beyond faith and intelligential solemnity we need
vision, potential Darshan of the Vedic Rshis. Once you have had the vision of truth, doubts disappear
and questions recede into silence because, then, nothing shines but the Truth,
and Divinity Itself reveals It's Reality with showers of Grace. In this mood
and in this spirit, I suggest, you start your search for Vedic Truth and the
Mystery of Existence.
Lastly, if the Vedic lore is as old as humanity
itself, what is its relevance today in the modem world? Ask yourself other
questions: What is the relevance of Galileo or Newton or the Theory of
Relativity, two plus two makes four, Swaraj, the Vedic
word for freedom and self-discipline? Truth is truth, when the statement was or
is made is irrelevant. Vedic truth, if you find it convincing and acceptable,
is relevant not only for today but also for all time, to every person,
everywhere.
Yajurveda itself says (26, 2):
"Yathemam vacham kalyanim avadanijanebhyah":
Just as I speak (reveal) this auspicious holy Word
of the Veda for all people (without any discrimination of high or low), so
should you too communicate it to all people of the world whoever, whatever,
wherever they be.
Contents
|
|
Volume I |
|
|
|
From the Publishers Desk |
vi |
|
|
Homage, Thanks and Acknowledgements |
vii |
|
1 |
About the Author |
x |
|
2 |
Foreword |
xiii |
|
3 |
About Dr. Tulsi Ram
Sharma's English translation of the Rigveda -Dr. Krishan Lal |
xvi |
|
4 |
English Translation of Vedic Hymns: An Opinion |
xvii |
|
5 |
Message |
xviii |
|
6 |
Message |
xix |
|
7 |
Appreciation |
xx |
|
8 |
Sadbhavana (Good wishes) |
xxi |
|
9 |
To the Reader |
xxii |
|
1 |
Introduction |
|
|
11 |
Diacritical Marks of Transliteration |
|
|
12 |
RIGVEDA: |
|
|
|
MANDAL-1 |
|
|
|
MANDAL-2 |
|
|
|
MANDAL-3 |
|
|
|
Volume II |
|
|
1 |
RIGVEDA |
|
|
|
MANDAL-4 |
1-252 |
|
|
MANDAL-5 |
253-564 |
|
|
MANDAL-6 |
565-888 |
|
|
Volume III |
|
|
1 |
RIGVEDA |
|
|
|
MANDAL-7 |
1-370 |
|
|
MANDAL-8 |
371-982 |
|
|
Volume IV |
|
|
|
RIGVEDA |
|
|
|
MANDAL-9 |
1-424 |
|
|
MANDAL-10 |
425-1193 |
















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