Friday, December 24, 2010

Why The Rig Veda Is Common Heritage

The Rig Veda was recently declared by Unesco as part of the world heritage. A meeting of the US Senate commenced with a recitation of Vedic hymns. The truth revealed by the Vedas is universal.

In the Vedas God is said to be aproshivan, the One who never leaves us, in life, death or otherwise. Though implicitly separate, the Creature (soul), nature and Creator are inextricably and inseparably mingled in a scientific condition called relativity. In Vedic literature this relativity has been described as achhidrena, the unpierce-able and impenetrable manifestation of God. Hence, there remains no doubt or question about the existence of God.

A few attributes and characteristics of God guide us to understand the formless One clearly. God's foremost adjective is antmah, which means He is at the core of every atom, and the term for this quality of God is known as napti. He is niyantah, the one who controls, the subtlest and the largest infinite entity of the cosmos.

Soul provides life to the body it dwells in, but who gives life to the soul? Purusha is soul and Uttam Purusha or Ultimate sustains the soul. The shape of God is actually unimaginable, achintya, therefore He appears to us according to our own imagination and choice. Immutable are His attributes. None is nearer than Him and no one is farther either, anantah.

The all-powerful, reservoir of consciousness is amritam and adabhya, that is, the loner without death and irrepressible. God is paridheya, whom we can receive from all sides, at any time, at any place, within the soul. He is Truth, Knowledge, Infinite and Ultimate: satyam, gyanam, anantam, Brahm.

The only One is balancing the planets and controlling the cosmos continuously. He is explained as unparalleled divine nectar or rasanam rastamah. His name is greatest and potent of all: na tasya pratima asti, yasya naam mahadyashah. He is the basis of all creatures, One seen in many, and many in One:

Aiko Deva sarvabhuteshu, aiko bahusyam. The Vedas are the fountainhead of all knowledge.

God's primeval and foremost name is Aum, also known as Pranavah. Aum encompasses all including sound, energy, matter, space, consciousness, air and light. The chanting of Aum has been termed as Udgeetha. This chant-ing can be mansik also which means silent repetition in mind imagining overall swarupa, form of the formless God.

Describing God's vastness and greatness a Vedic hymn says: 'You are never away from us but strange it is that we cannot see you. Your divine poetry (creation) never dies'. When your heart and mind become pure you become eligible for realisation and His sacred company. He dwells in a sublime thought and unadulterated heart.

Doing righteous deeds and surrendering unconditionally before Him qualifies the seeker to the rarest exalted position of liberation, severing connection with mundane world. "O, son of God, may you become like God, the deathless (but not God, since none can be Him). God has made man in His image. Image can tally the object or subject but cannot adopt the same stature.

God belongs to the innocent (Punjabi proverb: bhole da rub) and the pure and He protects them too. God revealed Himself to sages in their meditation and they penned down Truth about Him and the universe.

The writer teaches Vedas at Hisar.