The Veda and Vedanta (An Old and Rare Book)

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The Veda and Vedanta, are two highly significant branches of indological learning and if Veda can be said as the main base of the Vedanta, the later is the philosophic conclusion of the former. It may be said that the Vedic studies without Vedantic purview will remain unexplained and incomplete. The two are coordinating and inseparable and therefore it has been felt necessary, to study them from the aforesaid viewpoint. The Vedanta is an overall complete thought, which has its linkage with other systems of philosophy and has an impact on most of them. Not only as a philosophical system, its supremacy is recognized throughout the whole world, it has also been studied with its social relevance, as a practical vedanta, in India and abroad. In this country, particularly practical Vedanta of Vivekananda and a number of other neo-vedantins, has brought to notice the utility of Vedanta from the viewpoint of social relevance. For the day is full of various types of myseries caused of domestic and social conflicts, due to moral lacuna, and social and economic inequities, there is felt a need of studying and understanding Vedanta in the whole globe and tnerfore its readership has gone highly up in east and west. In this context, present author is happy that his fellowship has been inspired by the readers of Vedanta, to read and recognize his works, like Sankaracarya, Advaita Vedanta, Some aspects of Advaita philosophy, Glimpses of Vedanta, the Vedantasara (ed.) and the Encyclopaedia of Vedanta. I am highly thankful to them all. In India, along with moral, cultural and philosophical heritage, the saints of Vedic and post-Vedic period and onward, have impressed upon the whole human kind, through their saintliness, full of human-kindness, venevolence, attitude of human-welfare and overall goodness. It is worth-mentioning that the base of sainthood in India, is Sankarite Vedanta, and Vaisijavite both, particularly the Advita Vedanta' of Sankara. Nanaka, Kabira, Jnanesvara, Mira and many others may be referred to in this regard. In modern era, the saints, like Sister Nivedita, Mother of Pondicherry, Maharsi Ramana and Mother Teressa have done a great service for the welfare of human beings. This aspect too has been taken up in the present study.

Former Union Minister and Ambassador to the United States of America, Dr. Karan Singh has been very kind to contribute his foreword to the present volume.

I am highly grateful to him. Indeed, a word, from a scholar and advocate of international repute in the field of Vedanta, like Dr. Karan Singh, is of a great value to me and [ am further indebted for his sincere affection towards me.

I am sincerely thankful to learned professor (Miss) Armaiti S. Desai, Chairperson and Professor Y.C. Mathur, Vice-Chairman, University grants commission for encouraging me in my pursuit of studies.

The idea of collecting the thread of above mentioned views and to interweave them came after organizing four seminars, on Veda-Vedanta conflict resolution in the University of Delhi under the auspices of Dharam Hinduja International centre of Indic research, New Delhi, which is engaged In Vedic and Vedantic research genuinely I am thankful to Dr. Kireet Joshi, President of DHICIR for giving me an opportunity to organize the said seminars. I also thank Dr. R.K. Sharma. Director of DHICIR and Mr. Ram Lal Arora, Administrative Officer of the Centre, for sharing the responsibility of organizing these seminars.

I specially thank my wife, Mrs. Chetan Sharma for allways giving me her hand in my academic pursuits. I can never repay her debt. I also thank my daughter Dr. Priti Sharma for contributing her paper, "Abhipraya Prakaika and Brahman", to this volume : Dr. Vipul Gupta, a PILD,

Research scholar and my son, Mr. Abhishek Sharma, a student of M. Tech (BHU), who have helped me in preparing. the index. I wish them all a great success in their career.

Deputy Librarian, Mr. R. Saini, Mr. Sher Singh and Dr. J B. Khanna and other staff members of the Delhi University Library deserve special thanks, because, it is they who solved my problems regarding precuring me the very rare and precious treasure, I needed time to time.

In the end, I am thankful to Mr. Shyam Malhotra, Manager, EI3L, for allways taking up my work to bring it out with keen interest and great zeal.

The Veda has a unique place in the field of indology, because of the knowledge it contains on history, philosophy, metaphysics, science, mathematics, geography, literary elements, medicinal science and so on. The Vedic knowledge is the outcome of the revelations of the R sis, who because of their austeric power had revealed the innumerable screts of knowledge which have come to us through Sravana tradition (Sruti-parampara). The Veda is a reservoir of knowledge, which has numerous branches of which some have come to light and some are still untraced, because of insufficient researches and its vast and very deep scope area, albiet the ancient and modern scholars of the east and west, have made researches in various areas of Vedic researches. It is also a fact that in the later half of this century, there his been a special attention to the study of the Vedas, with a scientific approach, especially from the point of view of mathematics, physics, astropbysics, astronomy and sociology and scholars' interest in these areas has been gradually increasing due to very encouraging results achieved therein. However. it may be further emphasized that there is L much more need for making higher and specialized research in Vedic domain.

The Vedic Vanmaya includes, the four Sarhhitas, Rgveda. Yajurveda, Samaveda and Atharvaveda, the Upanisads, the Brahmanas, the Aranyakas and the Srautasutras mainly. As initiated at the outset, the Veda also contains science and technology, nonconventional sources of energy, and the weather science.

The scientific approach also can be made to the study of Vedanta• In this respect, the physisist scholars like Dr. Raja Ramanna have successfully done it. As far as the philosophical part of the Veda is concerned, it is related to Mimamsa (Karma Kanda) and the Uttaramimanasa (Jnanakanda). The Karmakanda is a prior aspect of Thanakanda,1 which is the final doctrine of the Veda and therefore it is rightly said as Vedanta. Now, It may be mentioned that the whole structure of Vedanta is based on the tenet of Br hman, which is propounded as non-dual, infinite and as an ultimate reality. How this Advaitic theory of reality is prevalant in the Samhitas, is to be seen here. To my mind, the Rgvedic thoughts of one reality (Ekamsad vipra vahudha vadanti) is the core idea of the whole of the Vedic thought, which presents a clear background for the Advaitic standpoint. Furthermore, the indescribable entity described in the RV (Na-sadasit no sadasit tadanim), the Purusa of the Purusasakta, who is the. Lord of immortality, and has been described as the universal soul, the Hirainyagaroha, who is the God-head, as the great power of the universe, the Visvakarma, described as the creato7 and controller of the universal creation, the Vak, described as the substratum of the whole universe, and the Brhaspati or Brahmanaspati, the creator, is clearly indicative of the Advaitic origin. Needless to say that these points are related to procreation which is a part pr. philosophy. It may further be mentioned that the "Tapas" of the Nasadlyasukta which has been described as the cause of e Creation is Samkalpi of the Lord. This idea is prominently elaborated in the Upantsadic expressions, like "Eko' ham vahusyam. It is also necessary to note the Rg-Vedic panthiesm and the style of addressing a God, as for the time being, the G )d with al entire forgetfalness of other Gods, is also indicative of the later Advaitic standpoint. In the Yajarveda, Pra0pati, Brahman and Purusa, are prevalent for the same meaning. In the Sama-Veda Samhita (vi. 3.17) also, there is an expression which mentions about Brahman, the causal entity : "Tadihasa bhuvanesu jyestham". Here Sayana means Brahman, the causal entity, by the word "tat". The same way, in the A.V. There is a clear description of Brahman as substratum and of the world as superimposed and thus this is fully evident of the Advaitic doctrine. Furthermore, in the Atharvaveda, Brahman is identified with Kala (Time) and this kala is the cause of the whole cosmos. There is similarity, between Rta and Kala, because both are moving and the deities are described as born and increased by Rta and thus they are said as Rtajata and Rtavrddha.

So also, in the Brahmanas and the Aranyakas, Brahman, the key principle of Vedanta finds a prominent place. In the Satapatha, epitomically, Brahman has been mentioned as Svayambhuh, Virat and the cause of creation. The use of the word, Brahmavadin and Brahmavit in the Taittiriyabrahmana, further indicates about the concept of Brahman. In the Aranyakas too, the Brahmanic thoughts are prevalant. illustrate, Aitareyaranyaka describes Satcidananda Paramatman as the cause of creation and Atman as an allpervading entity. The Taittiriyaranyaka says that after creating the universe, Paramatman entered in it. Describing the Advaitic characteristic of Brahman, the Sankhayana mentions Atman as Brahman and Brahman as Aparva, Apara, Anapara and Abhaya.

The above chain of Brahmanic thought of the Vedic literatur gets concentrated in the Upanisads. Therein, more particularly in the Chandogyopanisad, Brahman has been propounded as a supreme and ultimate reality and an allpervading entity. It is further described as determinate and indeterminate. Logically it seems that it was done, for justifying the universal creation, from the determinate who is the efficient cause of the cosmos due to His Maya Sakti as well as its overall controller. It was not justifiable with immutable Brahman, which is a nameless and formless entity. At this stage, it is remarkable that the role of Maya in the Upani5adic and later philos3phical thought is highly significant. Accordingly from the point of view of creation, its sustenance, controlling and dissolution, and the state and functioning of individual soul, the doctrine of Maya is highly important, for it is due to the adjunct of Avidya or Maya0that the pure soul takes the form of individual soul (Jiva) and it experiences the result of the deeds.

**Contents and Sample Pages**