Vedic Philosophy: Introduction
Vedic Philosophy provides
answers to all unanswered questions i.e why there is pain and pleasure, rich
and poor, healthy and sick; God - His qualities, nature and works. Soul – Its nature
and qualities, souls of humans and animals; reincarnation – how does it
happens, why one is born as he or she is. What is the purpose of life? What we
ought to do?
If you are a thinker, curious,
confused about the universe as a whole, if you have a strong desire to your
questions answered, then you must continue reading this philosophy. It will
open your eyes, you will be able to differentiate from true to untrue, right
from wrong, just from unjust, and you will be able to put together the puzzle of
the whole universe.
In the 19th century a great
saint, seer and philosopher, vedic commentator, thinker, master mind having
impressive personality, an ancient ascetic and yogi, appeared on the scene, who
is widely known as Swami Dayanand Saraswati. To expel the darkness of ignorance
and spread the true knowledge for the benefit of humanity at large, Swami
Dayanand Saraswati established Arya Samaj. Vedic teachings are based on Swami
Dayanand Saraswati's writings and teachings.
Author:
Vidya Sagar Garg
For questions, comments, and
feedback, please send Email: vsgarg@yahoo.com
Table Of Contents
1.
God – Nature,
Qualities and Works
3.
Meditation
5.
Soul
6.
Mind
8.
Human Body
Compared To A Horse Cart
9.
Humanity
10. Definition
Of Non Violence
13. Ten
Principles For Self And Social Uplift
14. Social
Practices
17. Vedic
Scriptures
1. God – Nature,
Qualities and Works
There
is one and only one God. Different people call Him with different names. The real
name of God is Om (Aum).
God
is omnipresent. He is
present at all places. He is present inside of our body and outside of our
body. He is present inside of all living and non-living things and outside of them.
He is present in the smallest thing as well as in the biggest thing. He is
present in the mind and in the soul. He is present in the whole universe.
God
is never born. He never
dies. He has no beginning and no end. He is always living. He is free from
aging process. He is fearless. He is flawless. He is free from happiness and
misery. He is pure. He is kind. He is unique. There is no one like Him nor
equal to Him. There is no one greater or bigger than Him. He is the greatest of
all. He is the biggest of all. God creates, supports and runs the universe.
God
is formless. He is
always without a body. Therefore, there is no picture or statue of God. He
cannot be sensed with 5 senses (eyes, ears, nose, tongue or skin).God can not
be even sensed with the help of a microscope.
However,
there are occasions when we realize God’s existence and His actions.
Occasions, when in utter disappointment, help arrives or an idea flashes into
the mind, and the situation begins to improve. Also, thought of doing bad deeds
brings feelings of fear, suspicion and shame; and thought of doing good deeds
brings feelings of happiness, encouragement, excitement and fearlessness. All
these feeling come from God.
God’s
existence is also realized from His works. What a wonderful, intelligent, beautiful creation of the
universe. The regular, logical and mathematical motions of the planets;
meaningful and rightful functioning of the universe; the beautiful creation and
growth of the plants and the living beings – all these works prove existence of
some super, intelligent, living power – The God.
God
is omniscient. He knows
the thoughts in the minds of all.
God
is the source of all knowledge.
In the beginning of the universe, God gives knowledge to the human beings. God
appeals directly in to the minds, he does not need hands to write or a mouth to
speak.
God
is omnipotent. He is all
powerful; He performs his works by himself. He does not need anybody’s
assistance to run the universe. He manages all His affairs by himself. He is
always just and never does injustice. He always follows His just code.
God
is equally accessible to all.
He is the father and the mother of all living beings. No agent or broker is
needed to approach Him. No body can be a God’s agent. God does not favor any
one, nor He disfavors any one.
God
is always in a state of ecstasy (bliss). Getting close to Him gives comfort, just like a fire gives
comfort to the cold (persons).
God
has his own work field, and humans have their own different work fields.
2. Worshipping God
All
kinds of God worshipping we do, is not for God. It does not affect God
any which way. Any action of ours has no effect on God.
God
feeds all. Everything is in God, and God is in everything. Therefore, feeding
God does not make any sense.
There
is no place where god does not exist. He sees and hears all. He also knows our
thoughts. Therefore, there is no need of loud voice, bells or loud speakers,
etc. God is out of smell, therefore, God has no use of incense. God has no
shape or body, therefore no sense in clothing or decorating Him.
Everything
we do is for ourselves.
God gives us the good or bad fruit based upon our own deeds. Some deeds get
fruit immediately, others get fruit at different times, when and where
deserved. This getting fruit at deserving time is called luck or destiny.
Worshipping
God means, thinking of qualities of God, and making those qualities part of
your life. God is just.
He always does justice without any favoritism. He does not accept any approach.
He is never unjust. God is always right. He is never wrong. God knows all. God
has all the true knowledge. He is never ignorant. God is holy and does not have
any weaknesses. God is kind-because of his kindness he has given thousands of
things for our use. We too ought to be just, righteous, knowledgeable, holy,
kind etc. This is the meaning of God Worship.
3. Meditation
With
meditation, soul becomes so much powerful, that it is not afraid of even the
biggest hardship, and it will be able to tolerate it easily.
How
To Meditate:
4. Three Eternal
Entities
God,
souls and matter – always exist. They have no beginning and no end.
God
– read the topic on ‘God – His Qualities, Nature and Works’.
Souls
– There are numerous souls, but fixed in number. The total count of souls does
not change ever. Each living being has an individual soul. In the God’s
kingdom, one is identified from the soul, not from the body. Because, soul
keeps changing bodies one after another. Same soul may become an ant, elephant,
man, woman, lion etc.
Soul,
when in a human body, is more or less free to do actions; this is not the case
when in a body of an animal; animals act on the natural instinct. Therefore, by
the God’s justice system, humans face the consequences of their actions. As a
result, one suffers or enjoys in his present life, and also may be born as
human, animal, bird or insect after the death. When soul and body joins
together, it is called birth; its separation is called death (for more detail
on soul, read topic on ‘Soul’).
Matter
– matter is never destroyed. All we see, smell, taste, touch or hear is matter.
Human body and other living beings are made of matter.
Matter
changes shape. By burning wood, it changes into carbon, moisture and gases. It
just changed its shape. When vegetables grown from seed, basically they are
changing shape with the help of soil, water, sun and air. After eaten and
digested, they change the shape again.
5. Soul
Every
living being – human,
animal, bird or insect has a soul. Presence of the soul in a body keeps one
alive. Departure of the soul, causes death. Therefore, bodies of people and
animals are pure as long as the soul is present, they are impure after the soul
leaves.
Soul
stays at one place in a body, but it affects the whole body; just like a
lit candle, placed at one place, brightens the whole room.
Soul’s
place is near the heart in the body.
Soul
is so fine in size, that it cannot be seen with the naked eye or with the help
of a microscope.
Soul
enters the body with
food, drinks, air or through the pores of the skin. First, it gets into the
male, at the time of mating, it goes into the female.
Soul
is not capable of doing anything without a body. It performs actions only with
the help of a body.
Knowledge,
effort, desire, resentfulness, happiness and sadness are the qualities of a soul. Dead body is without a soul,
therefore, lacks these qualities.
A
body changes, because of the presence of a soul. Right from the conception, the
growth begins, because of the presence of the soul. There is no growth without
a soul.
Soul
is never born; it never dies; it always exists.
Weapon
can not cut a soul, fire cannot burn it, water cannot spoil it, and air cannot
dry it.
Soul,
by itself, is neither a male, nor a female, nor an unisex. Its sex
depends upon the body it gets. Same soul may move from male to female bodies or
vice versa, but only after the death of the present one.
6. Mind
Soul’s
actions are done through the mind. Soul connects with mind, mind connects with
body and body connects with the outer world; which causes knowledge and action.
If
the Mind is not with the body, then no action takes place. If the Mind is not
with the eyes, we don’t see; if the Mind is not with the ears then we don’t
hear.
A
dead body does not feel the pain or pleasure, because of the absence of the
mind and the soul. The Mind leaves the body along with the soul. The Mind stays
along with the soul in the body near the heart.
Mind
itself is not a living thing. Therefore, it cannot do anything by itself.
Mind
is made of matter. Food is made of matter as well. The kind of food one eats,
has a significant effect on one’s mind.
Mind
is a storage box of all impressions. All effects of one’s actions, all the
knowledge one has acquired, all the experiences one has gained; in this life
and in previous lives, stay in the mind. So, it has everything, one has ever
experienced. The stronger impressions appear on the surface, the weaker stay
buried deep down. Efforts can bring up the impressions on the surface which are
buried deep down.
Three
states of mind –
Out of all
these, the second is better than the third and the first is the best of all.
Finally, to
get rid of a bad habit or action, condemn the bad habit or action, in your
mind, again and again. More this is condemned, further away one goes from the
vices.
Ref:
Upnishad, Manusmriti, Sushrut
7. Reincarnation -
Rebirth
Reincarnation
simply means rebirth. Soul keeps changing the body one after another. It
gets a bodies based on its deeds done in human life.
Soul,
when in other than human body – e.g. in an animal, a bird or an insect, does
not act independently. It acts either under the direction of a human being or
just by natural instinct. It does not and cannot think. All its actions are
controlled by others or by natural instinct. Because of that, its actions are
neither rewarded nor punished.
When
leaving human body, if the good deeds equal bad deeds, one is born as an
ordinary human being in the next life. If good deeds exceed bad deeds then one
is born as an intellectual human being. If bad deeds exceed good deeds, one is
born as an animal, a bird or insect etc. based on the severity of the bad
deeds.
Basically,
deeds good or bad are done through:
One
reaps the fruit good or bad by receiving or paying for the deeds done with
similar organs. E.g. harsh talker, liar, back stabber etc gets a life of an
animal or of a mute human being.
The
soul adjusts in the body it gets, whether it is a human, an animal, a bird or
an insect. Soul is like water, without a color. Color makes the water colored.
Same way, the soul is known as by the body it is in.
Soul
continues to move from one body to another. It starts body at the time of conception,
and departs at the time of death. Same soul can be a man, woman, elephant, ant
or any other living being, and back and forth as well.
As
humans discard worn out clothes and wear new ones, similarly soul discards the
useless old body and starts a new body.
8. Human Body Compared
To A Horse Cart
5
senses (eyes, ears, nose, tongue and flesh) are means of learning by seeing,
hearing, smelling, tasting and touching. 5 other parts of body (hands, feet,
mouth, sexual and waste organs) perform deeds. All these 10 parts of the body
are the 10 horses of the human cart. Where Mind is the control, brain is the
operator and the soul is the passenger.
The
only way, the passenger will get to its destination, if the operator follows
instructions from the passenger and has control over the horses. In a
situation, when the operator is sleeping or intoxicated, there will not be any
control over the horses, they will go anywhere they wish to go, the passenger
will never reach to its destination.
So
the brain has to be very clear and strong to control the mind and the body, in
order to achieve the soul’s goal. Thus, the brain is the most important part
of human life.
The
goal of the soul is to achieve (long lasting) happiness. To achieve happiness,
one has to:
There
is a process and training of oneself, to achieve this goal.
On
the other hand, bad deeds (e.g. untruthfulness, injustice) knowingly and
unknowingly, lead to miseries.
The
human body is considered to be a rented one. It continuously requires rent in
the form of air, water and food.
It
is said that the human body is great, but the mind is greater, brain is much
greater and the soul is the greatest.
Ref:
Kathopnishad
9. Humanity
Humanity is considering others pleasure and pain,
profit and loss as your own. Not being afraid of unjust person, no matter how
powerful he is, and be afraid of just person no matter how powerless he may be.
Working with the full force for the protection and promotion of just person,
even if one has to suffer heavy losses, even if one loses ones life during the
pursuit.
All
the living beings other than humans have a common characteristic. i.e. be
afraid of the strong and frighten the weak; they even kill others for their
selfish motive. Humans with similar characteristics be considered non-human
beings. Being kind and helpful to the weak is a human characteristic.
10. Definition Of Non
Violence
Never
to have enmity of any kind, towards any living being – human, animal, bird or
insect, is defined as non-violence.
Hurting,
punishing or killing a living being does not by itself make the action violent.
It is the cause behind it that matters.
Killing
an animal, which kills people or destroys crops, is not an act of violence.
Killing an animal or a bird for food or fun is a violent action.
To
punish a person for the crime committed is not violence. Rather, not to punish
a criminal is a violence. Because, if the criminal is not punished, he would harm
many more innocent people, thereby creating much more violence.
The
purpose of punishment is to deter the criminal from committing the crime again
and to alert the others not to engage in such an act. Only harsh punishment can
reduce the crime and save many people from the miseries of the crimes.
If
someone attacks you and you respond with force, it is not violence. Anyone
trying to harm the society or the nation, should be dealt with firmly and with
force. That will save millions from sufferings. Therefore that is non-violence.
Ref:
Translation of Yog Darshan by Maharishi Ved Vyas
11. Meat - Not A Human
Food
Meat
is not a human food. No flesh of any animal, bird, fish or egg etc. is a human
food.
Meat
is not only unhealthy for the body; it poisons the mind, the intellect and the
soul. Eating meat is totally forbidden in the Vedic scriptures.
Rishi
Manu in Manusmiriti says:
Vedas
speak of caring and protecting animals:
In
regards to eating, Vedas talk about grains like wheat, oat rice etc., fruits
and vegetables, milk, butter etc. Meat eating is not allowed at all.
Dr. Field
writes, every living being knows the life’s happiness and fear of death.
He
feels the pain and joy, just like you.
Same
one God is the father of all living beings – animals, birds, insects and human
beings.
Do
the animals and birds want to be killed? No, Not at all. Don’t they feel
helpless and miserable when they are being killed? Certainly, they do. Won’t
they like to live their full life as we people do? Definitely, they would.
Every
living being has a specific purpose for its existence. The purpose, definitely,
is other than being killed and eaten by others. Let each one of them be left
alone to serve that purpose.
12. Five Causes Of
Sufferings
Yoga
Philosophy talks about five Causes of Sufferings:-
1. Wrong beliefs – Treating mortal as immortal, immortal as mortal.
Thinking and
treating body and things as they will last for ever.
Treating and
thinking soul, God and good qualities i.e. truth, justice, etc., as they are
not ever lasting.
2. Believing pure which is impure and impure which is pure. Not believing in speaking the truth, being just, helping others and being courteous; rather believing in useless things.
3. Believing the causes of unhappiness as causes of happiness, and causes of happiness as causes of unhappiness. i. e. trying to find happiness in lust, anger, greed, attachment, jealousy, fear of pain; and not finding happiness in the real means of happiness such as love, friendship, contentment, control of senses.
4. Treating living beings as non living and non living beings as living. I.e. believing in stone worship as god worship; No hesitation in hurting, humans or animals treating them as they are non living.
13. Ten Principles For
Self And Social Uplift
Styles of
hair and clothes do not make a man or the society. Accepting the truth and
rejecting the untruth and following the path of justice, without prejudice, are
the real qualities that make a man and the society.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Ref:
Manusmriti
14. Social Practices
Heaven and Hell defined:
A
Person who is particularly in a happy situation is said to be in Heaven and one
who is in a particular sad situation is said to be in Hell. There are no
special places or planets like Heaven or Hell.
Intoxication:
Use
of all kinds of intoxicants – opium, wine, tobacco etc. - is prohibited by
Vedic Dharam. These are harmful for the body and the mind. They make a criminal
mind, thereby increasing the crime.
Speculation:
All
types of speculations are prohibited by Vedic Dharam.
Namaste:
Namaste
is a Sanskrit word. It means and stands for – My regard for you or my love for you
or my wishes for you, based on the situation.
All
our scriptures use the word Namaste for greetings whenever two people meet.
Government:
Just
like husk is separated very carefully without breaking the rice, the wicked and
criminal people should be separated and punished without hurting the innocent.
As
a pregnant female protects the unborn even at the cost of her comfort, the
government personnel should watch the public interest even at the cost of their
own interests.
PURITY:
Water
purifies the external body, not mind and soul.
Purity
of different kinds of people:
Sanskrit and Hindi Languages
Sanskrit
language is written in Devnagri alphabet – Sanskrit and Devnagri are as old as the
universe itself - about two billion years old. From the beginning of this
universe until couple thousand years ago, there has been only one language –
Sanskrit, and only one alphabet – Devnagri, in the whole world.
Devnagri
is the only alphanet, in the whole world, that has all the possible sounds. And
all letters of Devnagri alphabet have natural sounds. All words in Sanskrit
language are read and spoken exactly as they are written. Thus, Devnagri is the
most scientific alphabet and Sanskrit is the most scientific language.
Arya
(Hindi) language is also written in Devnagri alphabet. And, most of the words
used in Hindi are from Sanskrit language.
The Dead is Cremated:
After
a person dies the body should be burnt and not buried. Burial spoils that piece
of land and creates lot of foul smell. Burning a dead body with wood and with
stuff that gives good smell like butteroil and saffron does not give foul
smell.
If
a dead body is thrown in water, the water animals will eat the body, but the
water will get polluted. If a dead body is thrown in the woods, the wild
animals and birds will eat the body but the air will get polluted.
Last
rites are performed on around 12th day after the death. After that there is no
other ceremony is suggested.
15. Age Of The Universe
The total age of the earth (past and future)
is 4.32 billion years. This is called Brahma Day. After this period God
converts all matter into Paramanus. It remains in Parmanu form for the same
length of time. i.e. 4.32 billion years. That is called Brahma Night. After
Brahma Night God again creates the universe. This cycle of Brahma Day after
Brahma Night and Brahma night after Brahma day goes on forever.
Brahma day:
In
one Brahma day, there are fourteen Manvantras of human life. Each Manvantra has
seventy-one Chaturyugis. There are four Yugas in one Chaturyugi.
Satyug has 1,728,000 Years
Tretayug has 1,296,000 Years
Dwaparyug has 864,000 Years
And Kaliyug has 432,000 Years
----------------------
Their sum – Chaturyugi 4, 320,000 Years
Total Human life on earth, past and future
= 14*71* 4,320,000 Years
= 4,294,080,000 Years
This is equal to = 14*71 = 994 Chaturyugis.
Total time of Brahma day is said to be
equal to one thousand Chaturyugis. 994 Chaturyugis is the total time of human
life on earth. Out of the remaining six Chaturyugis, three Chaturyugis time is
spent in creating the universe and three Chaturyugis time is spent in
Converting the matter into Parmanu form.
Past age of human life
on earth:
Six Manvantras have passed. Twenty-seven
Chaturyugis of seventh Manvantra have passed. Of the twenty-eight Manvantra
Satyug, Tretayug and Dwaparyug have passed. In February 2000, 5099 years of the
Kalliyug have passed.
Thus, the total past age of human life
one earth is calculated as:
Past six Manvantras = 6*71*4,320,000 =
1,840,320,000 Years
Past 27 Chaturyugis of Seventh Manvantra
= 27*4,320,000 = 116,640,000 Years
28th Chaturyugi - Satyug =
1,728,000 Years
- Tretayug = 1,296,000 Years
- Dwaparyug = 864,000 Years
- Kaliyug = 5,099 Years
---------------------------------------------------
Total = 3,893,099 Years
Total of all past years of human life on
earth.
= 1,960,853,099 Years
Total remaining years of human life on
earth.
= 4,294,080,000 - 1,960,853,099 Years
= 2,333,226,901 Years
16. Creation of the
Universe
All the matter was in the form of
Parmanu, the smallest particle. Omniscient God combined those Parmanus and
created the universe.
Sixty paramanus make one Anuu
Two Anuu Make Air
Six Anuu Make Fire
Eight Anuu Make Water
And Ten Anuu Make Earth
After the Paramanus are combined to
create the universe, the left out space is the sky.
God firstly made air, then fire, then
water, then earth then herbs, then grains, then living beings. Men and women
was the last to be created after all the animals, birds, insect’s etc. were
created.
In the beginning, God created many men
and women, all in their youth. No children or elderly people were created. The
reproduction system started after that.
God created the human life at the place
now known as Tibet. After some time, when the population grew, some people
known as Aryas moved to the place now known as India. And, the place was named
as Aryavrat. Thus, Aryavrat is the original name of India. Later, people moved
to other parts of the world from Tibet.
In February 2000, number of years passed
since God first created men and women on earth is 1,960,853,099. Aryas have
been counting each day since the creation for the human life on earth. They
have been writing these dates in their calendar and Astronomy books. Even now,
while performing certain ceremonies like marriage, an Arya priest reads the
date since human life began on earth.
Men and women now are in the same style
and shape as were created by God in the beginning. They did not descend from
any other species.
17. Vedic Scriptures
All Vedic Ancient scriptures are in
Sanskrit language. Sanskrit is the first language on the earth. Most of the
languages of the world including English have been derived from Sanskrit.
Hindi, English and other translations are available for most of the following
scriptures:
The above books can be purchased from:
Sarvadeshik Arya Pratinidhi Sabha
(International Aryan League)
Dayananda Bhawan,
Ramlila Ground,
New Delhi - 1
INDIA
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