This link has moved to to http://www.hitxp.com/ved/index.htm
Hinduism – is NOT a religion. It is a culture defined in the vedas. A way of living from the ancient India.
Vedas are the root source of knowledge in Hinduism. They are not simple religious texts. They are the root of all knowledge. Vedic Mathematics would not have been part of the Vedas if Vedas were pure religious texts! Veda in Sanskrit means ‘Complete Knowledge’. See the Ancient India section to learn about the science behind the vedas.
You do not find any messages of religious hatred or blasphemy in the vedas. Humanity is addressed as a whole. No classification is being made based on one’s beliefs. In fact even atheism is allowed by the Shruthi and Smriti concepts of the vedas!
You can be a Christian or a Muslim or of any other religion and still be a Hindu, for the simple reason that Vedas DO NOT differentiate between Gods of different religions.
Instead they say ‘Ekam Sat, Vipra Bahuda Vadanthi ‘ which means ‘There is only one God. Learned scholars call God with different names’. So no problem whether you are a chrisitian or a muslim or a sikh. There is no hatred towards people worshipping God in other names! They are not charged of blasphemy! Hence religious tolerance is in-built into this culture of Hinduism. There is no scope for Missionaries for conversions or Holy war either! Because no matter with what name you call God or how you worship God, God is one and the same for all life on earth! There is no concept of different Hindu God, Chrisitian God, Muslim God, My God, Your God etc…
While other religions might disallow its followers from being a Hindu! Hinduism doesn’t! Hindu God does not send you to hell or does not say you have committed a sin and punish you if you worship God with some other name like Jesus or Allah!
In fact there is no single definition of “who is a Hindu” or “how a Hindu should live”! There is no single central controller authority! You can even worship the daemons mentioned in the Hindu epics and still claim that you are a Hindu! You can even be an atheist! You can even have your own definition of being a Hindu!
So, start the journey here…
Scientific Verification of Vedic Knowledge in Hinduism
What Vedas say about the age of the Universe?
Modern Science and Ancient India
What the ancient Indians did to us?
The Myth of Aryan Invasion Theory
Vedic Chants enter the US Senate
Mystic Equations of Nature=God
Aham Brahmasmi – The Selfish I and the Selfless I
Vedic Mathematics Simplified-Part 1
Sanskrit Lessons
Vedic Science vs Modern Science
Non Locality = Universal Consciousness
Astronomical Dating of the Vedic Age
Why are Vedas NOT of Human Origin?
© Copyrights 2005 – 2007 Gurudev
All Rights Reserved
i really dont like to comment on such a good text, but for clarification vedic mathematics are not derived from vedas. or in other words vedic mathematics are not part of vedas. they are set of rules which are found in a book written by Jagadguru Swamiji Shri Bharathi Krishna Thirtha. Although there have been many rumours that they were taken from vedas but no evidence was found till now. Infact the preface of the book itself tells this. please go through this article: http://www.tifr.res.in/~vahia/dani-vmsm.pdf
Kaushik
BKTM (Swami Bharati Krishna Tirtha) only popularized the vedic math by decoding the Atharva vedas! Even I have read his book.. Only after reading that book did I come to know about vedic math!
Atharva veda is all about engineering and there is no engineering without mathematics..
Sthaapathya Veda – upaveda of Atharva veda contains these sections related to mathematics…
The article you have referred says that the swamiji’s algorithm is not traced in the vedas.. which means in that case the formulas should have been written by the swamiji himself… Why on earth will a person say that something he has invented was actually invented by somebody else!!
If he had written it. then why will he simply say ‘ekadikena purvena’, (like how vedic texts say things in shortest sanskrit terms leaving it to the reader to understand the context)… instead he could have written elaborated formula with case studies.. since he was its author!
If I am writing a math formula.. if it is my own formula then I will give detailed explanation in the formula itself.. I wont try to keep it cryptically short and then explain it as if I am decoding my own formula!!
Third and most important thing… About 16 volumes of vedic mathematics compiled by the swamiji had the original vedic references and are said to be lost today.. the article you have referred to, doubts the very existence of these lost manuscripts.. but see here
http://www.vedicmaths.org/Free%20Resources/Articles/kansara/kansara.asp
Some crazy nut had sold those original manuscripts to some german scholar(!) for 80000 Rupees!
Read these lines in the above article..
“In his talk and demonstration given to a small group of student mathematicians at the California Institute of Technology, Pasedena, California on l9th February, 1958, BKTM has been recorded to have said “that I also speak summarily about mathematics which I have been able to get from the Sutras of the Atharvaveda.”11 Giving some further details, he said: “one particular portion I am referring to, a particular portion of the Atharva-Veda is called the ganita sutras. The ganita sutras are also called the Sulba Sutras `the easy mathematical formulae’, that’s the meaning of the expression. And there are sixteen sutras, sixteen aphorisms in all, and the general name ‘ganita’ mathematics is given to the subject.”12 In the same talk he said: “And, then fourthly, in the Atharvaveda we have what is called the Sthapatyaveda which is the Sanskrit term for a combination of sciences starting with mathematics and all its branches without a single exception going on to the application of mathematics in various other departments, including architecture, engineering, and so forth.”13 According to him, there are four Upavedas, viz., Ayurveda, Dhanurveda, Gandharvaveda and Sthdpatyaveda, connected with the Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda and Atharvaveda, respectively.14
Under the sub-topic “Ganita Sutras”,15 BKTM has given the following details : “One particular portion of the Atharvaveda is called the Ganitasutras. They are also called the Sulba-sutras, and there are sixteen, aphorisms in all. In this connection, he referred to Professor Colebrooke, and quoted him as having said to the effect that he was, unable to understand what the contents of those sutras are, and what connection those sutras have with mathematics, and that he did not understand those sutras; that it was unintelligible to him, it was beyond him: He has further informed us that coming to the same passage, the same portion of the Atharvaveda, Horace Hayman Wilson remarked “this is all nonsense”, and that R. T. Griffith said it was “utter nonsense”.16
We are further informed by BKTM that the above remarks of Colebrooke, Wilson and Griffith put him on the track, since, he thought that there , must be something in the subject which was being discussed with so much earnestness and which the commentators were trying to understand but could make nothing out of. So he went on with his simple idea that there was some meaning The meaning may be all absolutely wrong; but to dismiss something off hand as nonsense because it is not understandable, was not correct.17
Sanskrit has a certain peculiarity about it, that the same passage very often deals with a different subject and is capable of yielding different. meanings relating to different subjects. For example, there is a hymn of praise addressed to Sri Krsna.18 This verse also gives the value of p/10 to thirty two decimal places. The literal meaning of the verse is that in the reign of King Kamsa unsanitary conditions prevailed, which has apparently nothing to do with mathematics.
He further clarified that `Mathematical formulae’ is the heading of the subject, and inside we are told that the tyrant king ruled over the people oppressively.19 And here too, the heading is `Ganita Sutras’, mathematics formulae. So he thought there must be something. And for long years of meditation in the forest, and intense study of the lexicographies, lexicons of earlier times,20 he devoted himself to the task of discovering the mathematical meaning of the ganita-sutras. He studied the old lexicons, including Visva, Amara, Arnava, Sabdakalpadruma, etc. With these he was able to find out the meanings; he got the key in that way in one instance, and one thing after another helped him in elucidation of the other sutras, the other formulae. And he found to his extreme astonishment and gratification that the sutras dealt with mathematics in all its branches; that only sixteen sutras cover all the branches of mathematics, arithmetic, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, physics, plain and spherical geometry, conics, calculus, both differential and integral, applied mathematics of various kinds dynamics, hydrostatics, statics, kinematics, and all.21
In our endeavour to locate the portions of the Atharvaveda, that confronted Colebrooke, Wilson and Griffith and evoked the above-mentioned remarks from them, we have scanned through all the writings of H. Th. Colebrooke, which being more than a century old, could be available only in the very old libraries at Pune and Bombay, for personal reference and verification.
As regards Colebrooke, he is known to have remarked as follows:22 “.. the Vedas … are too voluminous for a complete translation of the whole; and what they contain would hardly reward the labour of the reader; much less that of a translator. The ancient dialect in which they are composed, and especially that of the first three Vedas, is extremely difficult and obscure; … its difficulties must long continue to prevent such an examination of the whole Vedas, as would be requisite for extracting all that is remarkable and important in those voluminous works.” During the course of his essays he has quoted generally from the Atharvaveda Samhita of the Saunakiya Sakha.
Horace Hayman Wilson, too, has referred to Colebrooke’s opinion in his essays and lectures.23 The portion of the Atharvaveda generally referred to by him seems to be the last two books, i.e. the Kandas XIX and XX.
“
i never said there is no mathematics in vedas.
just to share an interesting word, i found the oldest arithematic progression in Krishna Yajurveda’s Rudram-Chamakam which says, “Ekaa cha me tisrashcha me pajncha cha me sapta cha me nava cha ma ekadasha cha me….” which has “1,3,5,7,9,11…” The chamakam also has many progressions in it.
anyways, coming back to the topic, if e has taken it from vedas then why doent the preface say about it? People who borrow quotes from vedas usually give their reference but this book doesnt give any such. why? although people say it is borrowed from this shaka, this veda, but none quote the exact location. why?
and you asked if he framed them why did he make them short like the ones found in veda? they are called sutras, and by definition sutras are meant to be short, precise, apt. probably swamiji was very good at sanskrit to frame them! very possible.
Kaushik
based on your comments I assume that you haven read the link I have provided aka
http://www.vedicmaths.org/Free%20Resources/Articles/kansara/kansara.asp
where BKTM has clearly stated from where he got those sutras from…
His 16 other volumes are lost.. original manuscript sold by some crazy chap for some mere 80000 rupees! in which he is said to have written even about calculus, and higher math which he is said to have decrypted from the vedas…
it is not that vedic sutras are short.. they are cryptic in nature..
they have riddles in them…
even mahabharatha has 8800 such riddles in it..
Vyasa says in Adiparva
Ashtau Shlokha Sahasrani Ashtau Shlokha Shathanicha
Aham Vedmi Shuku Vetti Sanjayo vetti va na va
Which means there are 8800 riddles in Mahabharatha and only the author and his son shukha knows them all… sanjaya knows them only partially!
I have written about one of the shlokas that I tried to decode here http://hitxp.wordpress.com/2007/03/28/alien-twist-to-god-part-2/
There are many such sutras which I myself have found.. I have even seen in the sutras answers for questions which physicists currently are facing!
Later in ancient India scholars used to try and decode these sutras and write their findings as treatises on the vedas or parts of vedas.. for instance Shayana from the ancient Vijayanagar Empire of Karnataka had written a treatise on Rigveda where he talks about the speed of light! See
http://hitxp.wordpress.com/2007/05/28/speed-of-light-explained-in-rigveda/
Dear friend,
Please find below vedic, upanishd quoation with reference. I understand there is no idol workship and nor you can give any form to god…
“Na samdrse tisthati rupam asya, na caksusa pasyati kas canaiam. Hrda hrdistham manasa ya enam, evam vidur amrtas te bhavanti”
“His form is not to be seen; no one sees him with the eye. those who through heart and mind know him as abiding in the heart become immortal”
[Svetasvatara upanishad 4:20]
Yajur Veda
“Na tasya pratima asti”
“There is no image of Him”
[yajurveda 32:3]
“Andhatama pravishanti ye asambhuti mupaste”
“They enter darkness those who worship natural things, they sink deeper in darkness those who worship sambhuti (created things) ”
[yajurveda 40:9]
Yes pasha,
there is no idol worship.
But then what you need to understand is that there is a difference between
worshiping a statue itself as a God
AND
worshiping a statue by seeing God in it
For instance, if there are grandparents who are passed away and if their photos are there at home.. people definitely know that those photos themselves are not their grandparents, yet they see their grandparents in those photos
God is called Sarvantaryaami in the vedas meaning all pervading! The one who is present everywhere, in the stones, air, water, sky.. in the whole universe… and yet is no where.. you can’t pinpoint and confine God to one location
So you can indeed say that god is in the stone! That is the story of Prahlad too who said God was in a pillar!! What is not correct is to say that THAT STONE ITSELF is God.
When you say a statue itself is a God that becomes idol worship,.. when you say everything including statue is a God then that becomes worshiping the Sarvantaryami
You know your stomach is not YOU.. yet you cannot be without your stomach! Nobody can say that your stomach itself is YOU! Yet if somebody is looking at your stomach then they are definitely looking at YOU
Similarly a statue itself is not GOD, but then when you are looking at a statue you are definitely looking at GOD
Hi there
These are really the greatest articles I have ever read.. keep writing more.. I never even knew that things like this existed in our great Hinduism
Hi Cool girl, thanks for your comments
Hi Gurudev…..
U have written good articles..although i got time read a couple of them till now…..
It seems u read and write a lot….
Thanks for interesting info….!!!!!!!!!
Keep up the good work…..
Cheers!!!!!!!
It was my opportunity to be part of indiainfo discussion forum on different religion about 5 yrs back. It is sad that the threads no longer exists. Many learned people from different religion took part and did a lot of research to prove the points taught to them without humiliating others. Just there was a quest of finding truth. The discussion went for nearly 1 and 1/2 yr. we could understand the worth of Sanatana Dharma at the end. And also privileged to take part in free medical service held at remote village of india, where specialists from all parts of the world literally came to attend underprevileged patient and serve them.
For idol worship:- the concept of Saguna & Nirguna must be understood to appreciate the point.
Being a eternal science student happend to get a book titled “Vedas – The Ultimate Source of Science”. It would be of grt help if anyone find link to the book for paid online reading. The auther is an Indian Nuclear scientist and served US. http://www.inesglobal.com/newsletter/news53/NEWS53.htm#nuclear
Regarding Vedic importance in Germany.
Probably ppl who are with ISKCON or following StephenKnapp NewsList would have read the article. this is for the benefit of the rest
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Veda Park in Germany to be ready in one month
by Global Good News staff writer
Global Good News —29 December 2006
‘Today I gave the order to build 1,000 rooms for the 1,000 Vedic Pandits to arrive immediately, instantly, in one month,’ said Raja Emmanuel Schiffgens this week. Raja Emmanuel Schiffgens is the leader of Maharishi’s Global Country of World Peace for Germany.
Veda Park, the proposed new Vastu Campus to be built according to the ancient tradition of Vedic Architecture in harmony with Natural law (www.globalreconstruction.org), will
accommodate the 1,000 Vedic Pandits who are to arrive in Hanover. The park will consist of 36 marble Peace Palaces, in three rows, running north-south, and all facing east. There will be large halls for the practice of Transcendental Meditation and Yogic Flying, as well as dining halls and lecture facilities.
Global Good News feels that the climate which supports such a magnificent project is a clear indicator of rising coherence in German national consciousness.
This project promises to bring the light of Raam Raj—the Constitution of the Universe, Heaven on Earth—to the nation in one stroke, explained Raja Emmanuel Schiffgens.
(Visit page http://excellenceinaction.globalgoodnews.com/06-aug/india3.html for further information on the peace-creating power of groups of Vedic Pandits.)
-by Global Good News staff writer
Copyright © 2006 Global Good News(sm) Service.
http://www.globalgoodnews.com
Distributed by Deutsche Nachrichten Agentur
http://www.deutsche-nachrichten-agentur.de
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I think we Indians always try to appreciate our beauty only when Foreigners show our reflection in mirror.
Wonderful information ursri.. thanks a lot for that
@GD,
I want to know that weather there there is any thing written about “TELEPATHY” in VEDAS
Rohit
Oh yes, there is a lot about telepathic conversation which is defined as conversation between two souls via inner channels. Any form of extra sensory perception whose message can be conceived can be categorized as telepathy, and there are many instances of this in mahabharatha!
http://www.stephen-knapp.com/about_the_name_Hindu.htm
I’d like to offer you another resouerce on sanatan dharma:
http://www.gitananda.org
Great link qwert18! Thanks for that
Why the religion of Indians doesn’t has any name?
by His Holiness Jagadguru Shankaracharya of Kanchi Shri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Maharaj
We speak of the “Hindu religion”, but the religion denoted by the term did not in fact have such a name originally. According to some, the word “Hindu” means “love”; according to some others a Hindu is one who disapproves of himsa or violence. This may be an ingenious way of explaining the word.
In none of our ancient sastras does the term “Hindu religion” occur. The name “Hindu” was given to us by foreigners. People from the West came to our land across the Sindhu river which they called “Indus” or “Hind” and the land adjacent to it by the name “India”. The religion of this land came to be called “Hindu”. The name of a neighbouring country is sometimes applied to the land adjacent to it. Let me tell you an interesting story in this connection.
Foreigners who came to the land of the Sindhu called all Bharata beyond also by the same name. “Hinduism” was not the name of our religion in the distant past. Nor was it known as “Vaidika Mata” (Vedic religion or as “sanatana dharma” ( the ancient or timeless religion). Our basic texts do not refer to our faith by any name. When I thought about it I felt that there was something deficient about our religion.
Why our religion had no name. When there are a number of religions they have to be identified by different names. But when there is only one, where is the problem of identifying it?
All religions barring our own were established by single individuals. “Buddhism” means the religion founded by Gautama Buddha. Jainism was founded by the Jina called Mahavira. So has Christianity its origin in Jesus Christ. Our religion predating all these had spread all over the world. Since there was no other religion to speak about then it was not necessary to give it a name. When I recognised this fact I felt at once that there was no need to be ashamed of the fact that our religion had no name in the past. On the contrary, I felt proud about it.
If ours is primeval religion, the question arises as to who established it. All inquiries into this question have failed to yield an answer. Was it Vyasa, who composed the Brahmasutra, the founder of our religion? Or was it Krsna Paramatman who gave us the Bhagavad-Gita? But both Vyasa and Krsna state that the Vedas existed before them. If that be the case, are we to point to the rsis, the seers who gave us the Vedic mantras, as the founders of our religion? But they themselves declare: ” We did not create the Vedas. ” When we chant a mantra we touch our head with our hand mentioning the name of one seer or another. But the sages themselves say: “It is true that the mantras became manifest to the world through us. That is why we are mentioned as the ‘mantra rsis’. But the mantras were not composed by us but revealed to us. When we sat meditating with our minds under control, the mantras were perceived by us in space. Indeed we saw them (hence the term mantra-drastas). We did not compose them. “[the seers are not "mantra-kartas". ]
All sounds originate in space. From them arose creation. According to science, the cosmos was produced from the vibrations in space. By virtue of their austerities the sages had the gift of seeing the mantras in space, the mantras that liberate men from this creation. The Vedas are apauruseya (not the work of any human author) and are the very breath of the Paramatman in his form as space. The sages saw them and made a gift of them to the world.
If we know this truth, we have reason to be proud of the fact that we do not know who founded our religion. In fact we must feel happy that we have the great good fortune to be heirs to a religion that is eternal, a religion containing the Vedas which are the very breath of the Paramatman.
The best set of writings I have ever come across forced me to comment here! I am very very happy to read these articles. Rarely does an article change the way a person thinks and there are lot such writeups here.
Keep up the good work. Every line of yours rocks my dear
Priyadarshan
very well written comment, nice thoughts and information in it!
Thanks Maya for your nice words
Hello Guru,I don’t know where to place this so I have put it here.
I am reading a book named A course in Miracles, according to this book God made only one Son (this is just a term it do not mean a male child) and we are all part of the one Son. We must not see the trinity (God, Son & Holy Spirit) as separated from us. It says when we listen to the voice in our head we are denying God for we are listening to the ego and we can find God only in the present moment (the now).
My understanding so far is: “this child of God is fragmented and in everyone is a fragment of this One Son. Kind of pieces of a puzzle, without all the pieces the puzzle is not whole, hence the One is the Many and the Many is the One. This makes me understand the expression: We are all One.”
I would like to know what the Vedas says about human beings who & what are we.
Well said Veronica “without all the pieces the puzzle is not whole, hence the One is the Many and the Many is the One”
Yes, in this sense when we listen to our ego, its like listening to the thoughts which are based on the experience of only our life, where as listening to the supreme consciousness within us is like listening to the thoughts that are based on the experience of the entire universe!
As far as my understanding goes, vedas do not talk about human beings alone in a sense DISTINCT from other life forms.
A human in this birth might have been an insect in a previous birth and might become say a fish in the next birth or so. But being born as a human is one of the greatest gifts say the vedas, since we have more ‘scope’ for realization of the universal self. This realization leads to salvation uniting us with the universal self and freeing us from the cycle of rebirth.
But again, this realization is not limited only to humans, there are stories of even other animals attaining this realization, in other words the sense of oneness can be achieved by any form of life, but is more easy for humans comparatively!
In fact even things what we consider lifeless, is actually life, except that there is no material expressions there! Life is said to be “Sarva Gatah” meaning the one that exists under all circumstances. It need not be materialistic always. We have a limited definition of what life means. There is a beautiful book called “human devolution” which explains beautifully as to how humans have devolved (not evolved) from supreme consciousness into matter into the life as we know into humans
This is the creation hymn from Rigveda
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rigveda/rv10129.htm
Hi Gurudev,
I’m in USA for last 4 years and started reading on Swami Vivekananda Biography and came to know that Swami Vivekananda was the first of a succession of eastern yogi’s who brought Vedic philosophy and religion to the west and how lot of scientist got benifited from the vedic knowledge in west. I have very little knowledge on this subject that’s why I’m referring to you it might be a good post in this forum. Please take a ook in the following urls which contain lot of information which I think all indian should know.
Swami Vivekananda was hopeful that Nikola Tesla would be able to show that what we call matter is simply potential energy because that would reconcile the teachings of the Vedas with modern science.The Swami realized that “In that case, the Vedantic cosmology [would] be placed on the surest of foundations”. Tesla understood the Sanskrit terminology and philosophy and found that it was a good means to describe the physical mechanisms of the universe as seen through his eyes. It would behoove those who would attempt to understand the science behind the inventions of Nikola Tesla to study Sanskrit and Vedic philosophy.Tesla apparently failed to show the identity of energy and matter. If he had, certainly Swami Vivekananda would have recorded that occasion. The mathematical proof of the principle did come until about ten years later when Albert Einstein published his paper on relativity. What had been known in the East for the last 5,000 years was then known to the West. As per John L. Dobson the identity of mass and energy, which we didn’t get from Einstein till 1905. Mileva Einstein was a close friend of Nikola Tesla who got that idea from Swami Vivekananda, and he got it from the Sanskrit language. All this is built into that language, and anyone could have seen it.
All the details you will get it in the following url
http://www.hinduism.fsnet.co.uk/namoma/life_swamiji/life_swamiji_tesla.htm
http://static.scribd.com/docs/5yk6z3h3utkls.swf?INITIAL_VIEW=page
Other reference url –
http://www.geocities.com/athens/olympus/5208/
http://www.bautforum.com/astronomy-cast/47888-big-bang-cosmic-microwave-background.html
Please ignore it if you think this is not suitable for this forum..
Thanks & Regards
Debabrata
Debabrata, this is new information to me! Thanks a lot for that
Adding few lines to One in Many , Many in One.
The great Saints Sri Adi Shankaraacharya,Sri Madhwachaarya and Sri Ramanujachaarya provided different philosophies for the above statement. All are based on Vedas, Upanishats and Bhagavatgeeta.
Sri Adi Shnkaraacharya:
Advaita Vendanta: (A-not, Dwaita- different== non-dualism)
That is Self and Universal Being are not different They are one and the same. Manifestation are different.
Sri Madhwachaarya: Dwaita= Duality
Though Self is from Universal Being , because of its manifestation both are different.
Sri Ramaanujachaarya: Vishishtaadwaita= Qualified Non-Duality
This philosophy starts out as dual but the individual Self can merge into the Universal Being with knowledge.
One more explanation for this philosophy is like each Self is page in book of Universal Being. Every instance of page belongs to book and it has its own identity with in the book of infinite size.