The Knowledge in the Vedas

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The book explores the relation between the Divine Reality and the ritualistic worship practised by Hindus. The first chapter describes interpretations of the symbols used by Rishis in Rig Vedic hymns and of important slokas of Isha Upanishad and also describes the Vedic and Sankhyaic Paradigms, which are frameworks for the knowledge embodying Creation. In the following three chapters, discussions of the origins of the Vedas and the evolution of Vedic auxiliary texts are provided. In most Hindu households, worshippers seldom discuss the spiritual significance of mantras and sthothrams making it appear that the Gods they worship are different from reality. The fifth and following chapters are interpretations of the Lalitha and Vishnu sahasranaamas, Ganapathi Vaibhavam, Sri Rudra and Gajendra Moksham including their spiritual context.

Sridhar Chitta is a retired Professor of Electronics and Communication Engineering after several years of service in industries in India, the Middle East and Canada. When discussing spiritual matters with friends and colleagues, he noted their lack of awareness of the spiritual context of daily worship and felt a strong desire to write a book that discusses the connection. Sri Aurobindo's scholarly interpretation of the Vedas and Upanishads made a deep impression on him and led him to explore the spiritual significance of the sahasranaamas and sthothrams of Hindu Devathas. After spending more than 5 years researching and listening to a few hundred discourses, he began writing The Knowledge in the Vedas in 2018. He presently resides in Hyderabad, India and continues to explore spirituality.

He has also authored Fundamentals of Electric Theory and Circuits, marketed by Wiley, India.

When discussing spiritual matters among peers and acquaintances, I realized that there was a deep connection between the form-like world we see and the Consciousness which is invisible. The connection it seems is so clusive that only the most ardent seekers may find it. It made me think whether the Hindus worship of forms, make any sense apart from the discipline it instils in their daily activities Lacking an authentic idea of the Reality, mere ritual practices were not quite giving me fulfilment. and I sought the connection between the two. Turning the pages of The Secret of the Veda by Sri Aurobindo, I found answers in the book in the Chapter "The Foundations of the psychological [-the scientific study of the mind and behaviour] theory".

Sri Aurobindo wrote that the interpretation of the Veda was partly helped by "his fortunate ignorance of the commentary of Sayana" This is a bold statement and who else but a great Yogi such as Sri Aurobindo can make.

Living in self-exiled solitude in a house near the beach of Puducherry (also called Pondicherry), India looking out over the Bay of Bengal and reading the Vedas, he spent many years since April 1910 pursuing a path to the Divine. He wrote in a letter (1905) to his wife Mrinalini, the religion of today, that is, uttering the name of God every now and then, in praying to Him in front of everybody, showing to people how religious one is that I do not want. If the Divine is there, then there must be a way of experiencing His existence, of meeting Him; however hard be the path, I have taken a firm resolution to tread it. Hindu Dharma (the law of the Truth) asserts that the path is there within one's own body, in one's mind. It has also given the methods to be followed to tread that path. I have begun to observe them..." + [Sri Aurobindo's spiritual companion, The Mother would make her appearance briefly in the balcony of their home to give darshan to her followers.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages