The Gems of Vedic Wisdom

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The study of Vedas is essential for everyone who desires to acquire complete knowledge about God, soul and the world. Vedas are indispensable for attainment of peace, prosperity in the life. Vedas advocate the establishment of world peace based on spiritual foundation which is the most important need today in this conflict tom world and the mad rat-race of obtaining superiority over others. Universal love and friendship are the basics of the Vedas.

All actions of human beings are covered by the following four categories: (I)'Dharma'- Religion, (II) 'Artha' - acquisition of health, (III) 'kam'- fulfilment of carnal desires, and (IV) 'Moksha'- salvation. The vedas cover all these aspects in brief. One more and very important characteristic of vedas is that while all other religious thoughts or Philosophical system are the inspiration or teachings of a particular sage but the vedas viz. Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samveda and Atharveda are the divine relations to four seers: (1) Agni (11) Vayu (III) Aditya and (IV) Angira respectively.

Veda is the repository of all knowledge and wisdom covering all matters relating to animate and inanimate. It is the revealed text of all principles, basics sciences and arts useful for the advancement of human society. It is like a deep ocean, full of precious jewels and the person who dares to jump deep into it, gets' amply rewarded. It enables man to understand and do whatever is helpful in achieving the goal of life.

The Veda inspires the law-giver, guides the grammarian, infuses life in the logician, serves the instructor, the surgeon and the scientist. All that is contained in the Veda is not only meant for the personal welfare of the individual but for the welfare of all in the Universe.

Authority of Veda is the highest in all matters whether religious, social, literary or legal and all sciences must sub serve it.

In these days of international understanding, it is essential to remove social pride, prejudice, misunderstanding and that is possible only when the revelations of the finest universal truth for the benefit of the humanity as contained in the scriptures of the world are made known and put in the hands of the common man in a language he can easily understand and follow.

This book will undoubtedly be a valuable asset to any person and library in India and in the world as a whole.

THE Vedas are probably the oldest recorded scriptural texts in the world. A source of eternal inspiration, they contain profound truths which have continued to inspire and illuminate thinkers and seekers from generation to generation. Covering as they do a broad spectrum of thought apart from philosophy, such as cosmogony, ethics, sociology and of course metaphysics and mysticism, the Vedas remain a huge reservoir of wisdom for all humanity.

There have been many translations of the Vedas. In this book Kamlesh Sharma has chosen some important suktas, arranged them under different heads and translated them for the general reader. This is a significant exercise, as in one compact volume it presents a representative cross-section of the glorious Vedic verses and prayers. I am sure this compilation will be of value both to serious students of Hinduism as well as to those following the spiritual path.

THE study of Vedas is almost essential for everyone who desires to acquire complete knowledge about God, soul and material world. Vedas are indispensable for attainment of peace, prosperity in the life. Vedas advocate the establishment of world peace based on spiritual foundations which is the most important need in today's date in this conflict torn world and the mad rat-race of obtaining superiority over the others. Universal love and friendship is the basic fundamental of the Vedas.

Veda is the repository of all knowledge and wisdom in the whole universe covering all the matters relating to animate and inanimate. As per etymology, the Veda is the revealed text of all principles, basic sciences, arts and knowledge of which is essential for the happiness and advancement of human society. Vedas are like a deep ocean, full of precious jewels and the person who dares to jump deep into it, brings out her/his wants. Vedas enable a man to understand and do deeds that would lead him to find and achieve final goal. Knowledge of Vedas is the knowledge of the universe.

The Vedas inspires the law-giver, guides the grammarian, infuses life in the logician, serves the instructor, the surgeon and the scientist. All that is contained in the Veda is not only meant for the personal welfare of the individual but for the welfare of all, the whole world, the whole universe. The interpretation of the world 'veda' in the Greek is "Vida" i.e. I know and Veda is also called Sruti, Sruti means that by means of which all the Vedic seers right from the beginning with Brahma, have heard or leant and all men will hear or learn all true sciences and arts.

"Brahma" is second name given to veda by studying which all men advance in all walks of life. The Veda is the beacon of divine light, fountain of divine wisdom, eternal Truths and finally the attainment of "Ultimate Reality-The God."

Authority of Veda is the highest in all the matters whether religious, social, literary or legal and all sciences must subserve to it and all knowledge must be compared with Vedic principles and if there is anything which does not taly with Veda or subserve to it be summarily rejected as heretical. Wisdom or knowledge is one thing as' such Veda is one but since knowledge was revealed by God to four different Vedic Rishis in the beginning, it has now come to be recorded in four different parts known as Rig, Yajuh, Sam and Atharva.

These days of international understanding, it has become most essential to remove social pride, prejudice, misunderstanding and it is possible only when the revelations of the finest universal truth for the benefit of the humanity as mentioned in the religious scripts of the countries and nationalities are mutually made known and put in the hands of common man in a language he can easily understand and follow.

The credit for the revival of the glory of Vedas in present century goes to Swami Dayanand Saraswati who had implicit faith in the sublimity of Vedas and who opened the sealed gates of this concealed knowledge.

All actions of human beings are covered by the following four categories: (i) 'Dharma'-Religion, (ii) 'Artha'-acquisition of health, (iii) 'Kam'-fulfilment of carnal desires, and (iv) 'Moksha'-salvation. The Vedas cover all these aspects in brief. One more and very important characteristic of Vedas is that while all other religious thoughts or philosophical systems are the inspirations or teachings of a particular sage but the Vedas viz. Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samveda and Atharveda are the divine relations to four Seers: (i) Agni (ii) Vayu (iii) Aditya and (iv) Angira respectively. These Rishis saw things in the flashes of their intuition and brought out the hymns. Vedic seers do not admit the accidentialism in governing the process of the world and do not accept that it is a kind of materialism or naturalism. They definitely see the rule of law (-Rita) that does not only govern the universe but is also reflected in the lives of living beings. I am a beginner and do not claim to know much about the Vedas. I have consulted from here and there from the vast Vedic literature and put them in presentable form to the reader to give an idea of the salient aspects. This attempt of mine is not addressed to an academic audience but is meant for those who want to know about the Contents of Vedas and Vedic Literature in brief.

This book is synergetic product of many minds and I would like to render a vote of thanks to all those who have helped me directly or indirectly in completion of this work. First of all I express my deep and sincere gratitude to those writers whose work I have consulted.

I offer my heart felt thanks to my uncle (chachaji) Dr. Y.D. Sharma a great Sanskrit scholar and former Deputy Director-General, Archaeological Survey of India, Govt. of India, a visiting Professor to different universities who encouraged me in this attempt and gave me his valuable guidance, tireless efforts and constant encouragement throughout the course of completion of this work and without his help, this work was not possible.

I feel privileged to express my thanks to Prof. Ravi Parkash Arya, a great Vedic scholar, Yogi Mukeshji, Shri Harish Bhardwaj, Malini Bhardwaj and Mrs. Gayatri Sharma who rendered their valuable guidance from time to time to complete this work.

I am grateful to each and every member of my family specially my husband Mohindra K. Vashistha, Abhishek Vashistha and Arvind Vashistha whose love, affection, support and encouragement helped me to accomplish the present work.

I would also like to acknowledge my debts to Shri Raghunath Vashistha, Shri Jagdish Vashistha, Shri Ram Kishan Vashistha Gangoli (Gurgaon), Shri Ganga Dhar Sharma, A-70, Surajmal Vihar, Delhi and Shri Radhey Shyam Sharma, PGT, Kendriya Vidyalaya Airforce Station, Sector-14, Gurgaon (Haryana) for their valuable contribution and inspiration from time to time to complete this work. The contribution of Smt. Surji Devi my mother- in-law also cannot be forgotten who always inspired me to come up with some specific aim in the life.

Last but not the least, I am thankful to Standard Publishers India for giving this book its present shape.