The Vedas , the Life-air of Hinduism !!!

December 4, 2007

Dandavat Pranams to Bhagavan Krishna and Vaishanavas ! ,

Bhagavan Krishna's Gita-advice contains the essence of the Vedas . Gita urges the Krishna-devotees to lead a life in accordance with the Vedas .

The Vedas contain lofty truths . Society requires knowledge, arts, etc . The Vedas are a storehouse of knowledge .

Hindus must place their faith on the Vedic scripture on the basis of the fruits or benefits yielded by them, the benefits they directly perceive . One such " fruit " is till there for all of us to see . It is Hinduism itself, the religion that has withstood the challenges of all these millennia . Hinduism has produced more great men than any other faith . People have been rewarded with the highest inner well-being [the highest bliss] as a result of their faith in the Vedic tradition . There is no insistence on their part that everything on earth must be brought within the realm of reason or direct perception .

" The Sages transcended the frontiers of human knowledge and became one with the Universal Reality . It is through them that the world received the Vedic mantras, " this is one of the basic concepts of Hindu religion .

Where there is vibration, where there is movement or motion, there is sound . Speech is constituted of vibrations of many kinds . We hear sounds with our ears . But these are sounds that are converted into electric waves and these we cannot hear . We know this from the working of the radio and the telephone . All that we hear or perceive others are indeed electric waves .

During creation this something must have vibrated in many different ways and given rise to all that we see today . The mantras of the Vedas are sounds that have the power to inspire good thoughts in people.

The mantras of the Vedas originate from Bhagavan Maha-Vishnu Himself. We must take special care of such sounds too ensure the good of the world. Yes, the Vedic mantras are sequences of sounds that are meant for the good of the world.

Whatever is present in space is also present in the individual being . These elements exists in the human body in a form that is accessible to the senses . The sounds a person makes in his throat have their source in space in a form not audible to us . The radio transforms electrical waves into sound waves . If a man can grasp the sounds in space and make them audible, he will be able to create with them what is needed for the good of the world .

The Yogins can now grasp the sounds of space and bestow the same on mankind . These successions of sounds that bring benefits to the world are indeed the mantras of the Vedas .

These mantras are not the creation of anyone . The very word " Rsi " means " Mantra-drasta " (one who saw- discovered- the mantra) , not " Mantra-karta " (one who created the mantra). Our life is dependent on how our breathing functions . In the same way the cosmos functions in accordance with the vibrations of the Vedic sound - so the Vedic mantras are the very breath of the Supreme Being . We must thus conclude that, without the Vedas, there is no Brahman : To put it differently, the Vedas are self-existent like Bhagavan Narayana .

If we attain perfection (siddhi) by constant chanting and meditation of a mantra, it should be possible for us to see the Deity invoked in His physical form . The Deities also arise if we make offerings into the sacrificial fire reciting specific mantras. If a sacrifice is conducted in this manner, the Deities give us their special blessings. We do not pay taxes directly to the king or president . In the same way, we pay taxes in the form of sacrifices and Vedic chanting to the aides of Bhagavan Vishnu for the sake of the welfare of the world. The sounds of the mantras constitute their form .

The Vedas bring us face to face with many Deities - they bring us also their grace .

The Vedas speak to us about what is beyond the reach of our eyes and ears and reasoning - that is their purpose . We do not need the help of the Vedas to know about them . What cannot be provoked by reasoning and what is beyond the reach of our intellect- these the Seers have gifted us in the form of the Vedas with their divine perception . How do we learn about the affairs of other countries ?.We are not eyewitnesses to them but we depend on newspaper reports of these affairs . There is another kind of newspaper which tells us about matters that cannot be known through any worldly means and this newspaper is constituted of the Vedic mantras that are the gift of the Seers .

We have to accept the Vedas in faith . Develop a little faith in them and experience for your self the fruits yielded by them . In due course you will be convinced about the truths told about them .

In Tirivanaikka (near Tirucirapalli) people have seen with their own eyes a tree bare of foliage putting forth green shoots under the spell of mantras . The `sthalavrksa' here [the tree sacred to a place or temple] in the white jambu . That is why the place (Tiruvanaikka) is also called Jambukesvaram. Once the tree was dead expect for one branch or so . Then the cettiars - the trustees of the temple - had an Ekadasa-Rudrabhiseka conducted for it . And behold, by the power of mantras the tree put forth fresh leaves .

If the Vedic tradition becomes extinct there is no need for a separate caste called Brahmins. Nowadays the cry is often heard, " Brahmin, get out " . But do we hear cries like, " Potter, get out " or "Washerman, go away? ". If the potter and the washerman leave the village they will be brought back by force and retained. Why so?. Because the community need their services.

So long as the Brahmin possessed `sattva-guna' (the quality of goodness and purity) and so long as he kept the Vedic tradition going and lived a simple life, others recognized his value for society. They regarded him with affection and respect and paced their trust in him. They realised that if society was not afflicted by famine and disease (as in the case today), it was because the sound of the Vedas pervaded everywhere and the performance of Vedic recites created a healthy atmosphere around and brought its own blessings.

Even today the common people are not non-believers, nor have they lost faith in the Vedas. I feel that they will continue too have respect for the Vedic dharma and that the propaganda of hate [against Brahmins and the Vedas] is all to be attributed to political reasons . People, I repeat, do have faith in the Vedas, in Vedic rites and customs and if the Brahmin becomes a little better [that is by being true to his vocation] all hatred will vanish . Instead of expecting respect from others, the Brahmin must remain true to his Vedic dharma even at the risk of his life . Hindus will not allow him to suffer such an extreme fate . Hindus must uphold the Vedic tradition for the well-being of all .

Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya!!!

SriKrishnaDasa Rajeev