Hinduism 06

Transcript (Not Corrected)

Vedic Scriptures and the Foundations of Hinduism

Opening Prayer

ॐ सह नाववतु ।

सह नौ भुनक्तु ।

सह वीर्यं करवावहै ।

तेजस्वि नावधीतमस्तु ।

मा विद्विषावहै ।

ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ।

हरिः ॐ ।

Transliteration (IAST):

Om Saha Nāvavatu

Saha Nau Bhunaktu

Saha Vīryaṃ Karavāvahai

Tejasvi Nāvadhītamastu

Mā Vidviṣāvahai

Om Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ

Hariḥ Om

Translation:

Om, may Brahman protect us both.

May Brahman bestow upon us both the fruit of knowledge.

May we both obtain the energy to acquire knowledge.

May what we both study reveal the truth.

May we cherish no ill feeling toward each other.

Om, peace, peace, peace be unto all.

The Seven Types of Hindu Scriptures

Last class I explained that there are seven types of scriptures which are the foundation of Hinduism. Of these, the Vedas are the most important. In fact, by Vedas we mean only one thing: the essence of the Vedas.

The Three Foundational Scriptures (Prasthāna Traya)

There are three foundational scriptures which are considered the most important foundations of Hinduism. That's why they are called foundational scriptures. They are called in Sanskrit Prasthāna Traya. Traya means three; Prasthāna means foundational.

What are they?

1. Upaniṣads
2. Brahma Sūtras
3. Bhagavad Gītā

The Upaniṣads (Vedānta)

Upaniṣads—another name for them is called Vedānta. Vedānta means "the end." Anta means end, or it also means the essence. We take it in the sense of both. These Upaniṣads come at the end of each of the Vedas, and also they are the very cream, the summary, the essence of the Vedas. How many and all that, we will discuss later on.

Now, some of these Upaniṣads contain apparently seemingly contradictory statements. One man says one thing, another man says another thing. So to reconcile these so that they only purport one thing—they are not teaching contradictory things—you know, suppose you have road maps. You want to go to London. One road map says from Bourne, "Go to the east." Another road map says, "Go to the west." Which one do you follow? There must be harmony.

Brahma Sūtras

So to bring about this harmony, there was a great soul who brought all those seemingly apparently contradictory statements and made them crystal clear. All the Vedas uniformly, harmoniously teach only one thing—not at all any contradictory things. So these are called Brahma Sūtras. Brahma Sūtras is nothing but statements taken from the Upaniṣads so that the meaning of the Upaniṣads becomes very clear. That is the second—only one work consisting of about 500-plus aphorisms. This work was supposed to have been composed by Vedavyāsa.

Bhagavad Gītā

The third book is Bhagavad Gītā, universally known. So Bhagavad Gītā, Brahma Sūtras, and the Upaniṣads—these three are called the foundational scriptures of Hinduism.

The Four Vedas

Now we have been discussing these scriptures in a slightly detailed manner. Let us come to the Vedas. There are four Vedas. But as I explained earlier, really not four—one mass of literature classified nicely and arranged nicely and then divided into four types. So it is known as four Vedas. These are the well-known:

• Ṛg Veda
• Yajur Veda
• Sāma Veda
• Atharva Veda

The Purpose of Religious Scriptures

But before I come to what they really teach, I also have to deal with two important points. One point is: what do they actually teach? What do any scriptures of any religion really teach? What does it teach?

To put it in the most secular language: we all want to be happy. Is there any controversy between Hindus, Christians, Muslims, Buddhists? Is there any controversy? Is there anyone who says, "No, I don't want to be happy"? Would you find one person?

Then what do these religions teach? The religions teach that every knowledge in this world can only give you temporary happiness. But what we are going to teach you will give you eternal and infinite happiness. But then the question comes: what about this world? Yes, what we teach you will give you happiness both in this world and also in the other world—both temporary happiness and also permanent happiness. These two are the way, the knowledge that leads us to happiness.

The Concept of Dharma

There is one single word which tells, comprises all these meanings. That is called Dharma. So what do they teach in the scriptures of any religion? What do they teach? Only one thing. What is it? Dharma.

Dharma means what? How to be happy in this world and in the other world. Hindus are very thoroughgoing metaphysicians. So they made a crystal clear point: What then is the difference between happiness in this world and in the other world? Basically there is no difference. The difference is this is temporary; that is permanent. All the happiness, including heavenly happiness, is of short time—for a short time in a limited way. Both you must understand: timewise and quantity-wise, it is limited.

Pravṛtti and Nivṛtti

This goes by the name of Pravṛtti. For lack of a better word, I used the English word "temporary happiness." Pravṛtti means all that leads to temporary, limited happiness. And all that which is opposite to it means eternal, infinite happiness goes by the name of Nivṛtti, Mokṣa, liberation—permanent happiness, eternal happiness, infinite happiness.

The True Nature of Happiness

Interestingly, you take the textbooks of any field—chemistry, physics, astronomy, medicine, economics—do you know what they teach? They only teach one thing: how to improve our lives. Is it not? How to prolong our life is another matter. What do we do with that long life? That is an entirely different matter. But how to prolong life? How to remove diseases? How to provide material objects, instruments which can supposedly make us happy, etc., etc.? Every science is only trying to do that.

But they fail. They fail because, first of all, they do not take into consideration one important factor. All these sciences other than religion presume that happiness is equivalent to acquisition of things. Whereas religious scriptures alone say you are wrong. These objects have their value, but they do not constitute happiness.

What is it that really constitutes happiness? There is only one thing: that is our state of mind. The state of mind. Happiness is a state of mind. Unhappiness is another state of mind.

Just think about it. "I am happy"—even if you are in the most horrendous circumstances, but if you can feel "I am happy," you are happy. Even with all these what is called seven-storied, seventy-crore, seventy-star, seven-hundred-star hotels, if your mind is miserable, you are miserable. Is it right?

So what do the religious scriptures do? They say, "We will help you to attain that state of mind which you will feel that you are happy in spite of whatever be the external circumstances." That is the meaning of the word Dharma. Dharma pertains to the state of mind. You make the mind in such a way it is called Dharmic mind. Whatever else we do, you think Dharmic thoughts, righteous thoughts. You also do righteous actions. These are all subsidiary things, secondary things. But the main thing is that state of mind which has become an embodiment of righteousness.

Meditation and the Dharmic Mind

From another angle also you view this thing. We meditate upon God—let us say Ramakrishna. Meditate upon Christ. What happens? We gradually acquire that state of mind which these people have—Christ, the mind of Christ, the mind of Ramakrishna. Now what is the mind of Ramakrishna? It is an embodiment of Dharma, means truthfulness.

Interestingly, the word "right"—you know from where it was derived? From the Vedic word Ṛtam (R-I-T-A-M). Ṛtam is universal righteousness, universal harmony. From that Ṛtam has come this word R-I-G-H-T, righteousness. So this is what the Vedas also purport to teach.

The Nature of Vedic Revelation

So Vedas are the revealed scriptures. They are called revealed scriptures. Before I go into details, I must also clarify one more point. The point is, it's not that these Vedic seers, all of a sudden, all of them at the same time, developed these ideas, received these ideas. No.

First of all, in the Vedas, there is a vast amount of literature. There are very few things which are revealed things. There are very few truths which are revealed truths. The rest are human imaginations or human constructs for the sake of understanding and putting into practice those revealed teachings. In other words, to live a life in accordance with those revealed teachings, how we should behave, how we should mold our life, what we should do, what we should not do—this is all that is contained in the Vedas.

The Candy Floss Analogy

It is like, you know, candy floss. I call it, you know, Vedas are like candy floss. Any scriptures of any religion are like candy floss. You know candy floss? So big, colorful. You squeeze it—what is the essence? You get only a little bit of sugar. In the same way, you squeeze any spiritual scripture; the revealed truth would be only very few. The rest is an explanation of it.

So do not think every dot, comma, and letter, syllable, either in the Veda or in the Bible, is all divine revelation. Funny, is it not? Have you seen the old Bible? Ask the followers of the Bible: "Is it a divine revelation?" "Yes, every cent, every letter, symbol." So somebody is murdering somebody—is it divine revelation?

Similarly, in the Vedas also, 99% of the Vedic literature consists of explanations. Every sentence is not divine revelation, but it is based upon the divine revelation. That's important.

Gradual Development of Vedic Ideas

Another point we have to understand is that it took thousands of years for these ideas to grow, to develop, to become harmonized. So it didn't come in a short time. And then Swami Vivekananda used to say, "Every Hindu must study the Vedas." For what purpose? Not to understand the divine truths, but to destroy some of the superstitions existing.

Addressing Superstitions: The Example of Beef Eating

What are those superstitions? Let me tell you one particular superstition. A Hindu is one who would not eat beef—it is a forbidden food, right? A Hindu is one who will not eat, who should not eat pork, right? What were our so-called Aryan Ṛṣis doing? Practically every day they were eating beef.

When Swami Vivekananda mentioned this, many Hindus didn't like it. But it is there in the Ṛg Veda and others. The prayer is there: "Oh Indra, I am offering you so many cows. Please accept it." Yes, Indra accepts it—like our putting rasagullas in front of Sri Ramakrishna. After offering to him, what do we do?

Not only were they eating, they were eating buffaloes, they were eating cows, and there was not much mention, but there is occasional mention that "I am also offering this pig along with that."

Now why is this so? Because primarily these Aryan people—they were, first of all, dwellers in the mountains. Secondly, they developed a great agricultural civilization. They were cattle farmers. They started life like that—nomadic cattle farmers. So they used to drive their cattle along with them. Do you think every day they won't eat? Every day they are dealing with these cows and other things.

This Hindu idea that one should not eat a cow, etc.—this was developed much, much later, probably after Buddhistic teachings came. This idea, anyway—as a way of example I told you.

Vedic Society and History

Before I go any further, I will have to tell you something very important: How did these people live? What was the Vedic society like at that time? Why is it necessary? Because it will remove a lot of superstitions that every Vedic Aryan was a great Ṛṣi. No. There were very few Ṛṣis. Most of them were horrible.

The Aryan Settlement and Civilization

Okay. You know, as I said, they were mountain dwellers. And they developed—they were very intelligent. They developed quite a good civilization, great civilization. And then they used to live on the banks of the Sindhu. That is how the word "Hindu" had come. And they used to do a lot of yajñas, yāgas.

Now the point you have to know is they wanted to expand themselves. In course of time, they started coming down. And then they met whom we call plains people.

The Conflict with Dravidians

Who are these plains people? All the plains people at that time—they were not of Aryan origin. So they are non-Aryans. They were called Dravidians. Nowadays, when you use the word "Dravidian," it means South Indian. But in those days, Dravidian means—whom we call now Dravidians, they were the highly developed civilized people. Plains people.

How do we know? Harappa. Mohenjo-Daro. They dug these things—a highly developed civilization. Have you heard about it? And who are they? That was not Aryan civilization. That was Dravidian civilization.

The Aryan Conquest

Somehow these Aryan people came. They fought terrible battles. And after a long and bloody and most barbarous type of fights and battles, these Aryans finally subdued the Dravidians, and they mercilessly killed thousands of them. Put to knife. After a long struggle, these Dasyus also would not give up. They were also great warriors, very courageous people.

Then they became enslaved. These Aryans, I am sorry to say, treated these Dravidians as slaves for doing their most menial tasks. And they used to call them Dasyus. Dasyus means robbers.

The Dasyus in Vedic Prayers

In the Ṛg Veda, there are lots of prayers which tell you, "Oh Indra, protect us from these barbarous robbers." Who are these robbers? The plains people. Why are they robbing? You know, in the eighteenth-century Bengal, there were these highway robbers. You know, they used to cut pilgrims' throats and all those fellows. So why did they—were they decent people? The British government deprived them of their legitimate livelihood. They used to grow this blue indigo and all those things. They had nothing to fall back. That is how they became these highway robbers. They used to kill, and we call them robbers, and then we have the license to kill them at any time. British people put them down very horrendously.

Actually, they would not have turned—even Holy Mother's time also, you used to see some highway robbers. In fact, she encountered one. But they did not turn to robbery because they were cruel. There was no other way.

These Dasyus, by Aryans, they were called robbers. Later on, they enslaved them, and they called them Dāsas. All these Dāsas now—these Dasyu has become Dāsa. The word—Aryans enslaved them.

Development of the Caste System

For a very long time, these Aryans, you know, there were blacksmiths, there were carpenters, there were goldsmiths, there were cattle farmers, you know, everything that is needed—all those professions. As soon as they won the war, they had given or entrusted these menial tasks to these Dravidian people. Not only that, to boot, they called them Asuras; they called them Rākṣasas.

The Example of Rāvaṇa

Rāvaṇa, for example, you know, Rāma's time—Rāvaṇa Asura is a Rākṣasa. Where did Rāvaṇa Asura live? Sri Lanka. So who are the Sri Lankans? In Sri Lanka, there are two types of people: the Tamilians and the Sri Lankans. So who are the Rākṣasas? You know, in Rāma's time, all the South Indians were Rākṣasas.

Among those Rākṣasas—means these non-Aryans—among those, this Rāvaṇa Asura was most ferocious, most powerful. So the legend goes, unfortunately, he kidnapped the wife of Rāma. So he went all along, and then he did it. So the South Indians, you know, I am interpreting in my own way, that, you know, he got all these friends—Sugrīva and Hanumān and all. Who are they? Monkeys or South Indians?

You know, if you study history, you will have to wonder in a lot more ways than we understand. These are called Rākṣasas—no, it's a terrible appellation.

The Three Upper Castes

Anyway, so for a long time, there were only three castes that were accepted by the Aryans. These castes—they used to call them, they are called upper castes. They used to be invested with sacred thread, means they had a right to study the Vedas. Most importantly, they had their right to perform Vedic type of prayers. But there is no fourth caste at all.

In course of time, the Brahmins alone became very prominent. But what happens, you know, when two civilizations mingle, both of them become a new type of civilization.

The Formation of Western Civilization

As it happened, this Western civilization—what do you mean by Western civilization? What is the meaning? You know, Hindu civilization, Egyptian civilization, Chinese civilization, Roman civilization, Greek civilization—what is Western civilization? Where is this country called West? Or a nation called West? What do you mean by Western civilization?

It is a combination of Greek philosophy, Roman statesmanship, and Christianity. These three khichuri, forming a khichuri, is now called Western civilization. So whenever two civilizations mingle, they form a new type of civilization.

Integration of Dravidians into Aryan Society

Now, you know, in the beginning, they were fighting. After some time, these people—in the society, you know, there would be human beings. After all, they say, "Oh, these are also human beings." Then there will be love between man and woman. There will be intermixture of racial and religious, and all those nonsense goes on.

And in the end, just like all of us came to UK, now we are demanding, "We also are citizens of UK. We also have a right for pension and all those things." These Dravidians, they also said, "We have been living here. What is this you are neglecting? To whom, which class do we belong?" So they have been accepted as the fourth caste.

Also, the Aryans were very fair. The Dravidians were very black—plains people, being plains people. The sunlight, you know, burns them, etc. So four castes had formed.

Understanding Hindu History and Development

So the point I am trying to make is that all the ideas that we have about Hinduism, about especially modern Hinduism, is mainly from Ramakrishna-Vivekananda literature, from Swami Vivekananda. "Hindus were so mild that they never went to war with anybody. They never oppressed any other religion," etc. It is true, but of later time. But in the earlier time, the Aryans—they had no faith in the equality of any religion. They were as monopolistic as anybody else. They severely suppressed the Dasyu type of religion in the beginning, persecuted them.

Later on, the intermingling of this thing has come. Then they accepted them as part of their civilization, and then there was a period of peace. Over a long time, after a long time, this idea that "all religions are one," etc., had come. How that evolved?

The Violent Origins and Peaceful Development

So the first point you have to understand is there was terrible bloodshed in the beginning, and there was a lot of killing and other things also, and they enslaved the Dasyus. But those people who remained unkilled, still alive, escaped barely with their life—they became enslaved. In course of time, they became part of the Aryan society. In course of time, they were accepted as the lowest class or Śūdra class, and then they also accepted their superiors' religion—as it happens in many countries in history—and thus was born the Vedic religion or Aryan religion.

Once the civilization becomes peaceful—in fact, the word "civilization" is the result of peaceful times; when there is constant warfare, civilizations don't develop. So once the peace had been established, Aryan supremacy has been accepted, these people became enslaved, society has become a kind of harmonious whole—then the civilization started spreading. And you know the plains of North India especially became very fertile fields. So they had no problem at all. Thus started the Vedic society.

Characteristics of Early Vedic Society

But the people there—this you will find through the hymns, through the prayers, etc. Barring some of the earlier prayers, etc., one thing you will find: they were young—means civilization-wise they were young. They were vigorous, they were healthy, they had all the necessities of life, they were joyous, nature was very bounteous to them, their mind was very optimistic, hopeful, positive. That is how throughout the Ṛg Veda especially you will find these hymns.

Agricultural Life and Nature Worship

Now I mentioned that these Aryan people, they were mainly what is called agricultural people—tending the lands, tending the cattle, looking after these plants, etc. Now in those days, they understood very little of nature. So nature was very mysterious to them. The whole agriculture depended upon nature, proper working of the seasons, orderly working of the seasons. If anything goes wrong, their whole livelihood will go down.

So thereby this thunder, this lightning, the rising of the sun, etc., became the most important thing. When you are fighting for survival, what is the most important thing? Life. By hook or crook, as they say, we want to preserve our life. So they were praying.

Praying to whom? Behind every natural phenomenon, they found there is a mysterious power—there is a power of the rain, power of the lightning, power of the thunder, power of the rising sun, power of the setting sun. So they found out behind every natural phenomenon that there is a divine power.

Beyond Nature Worship: Discovering Divine Reality

Lest we may think, after hearing from me this one, that they were all, after all, nature worshippers—for a beginning, that was right. But they did not stop there. They peeped behind, as it were, and found out this mysterious power. In the beginning, out of ignorance, they thought there is a power which is controlling us. But in their mature state, what they have glimpsed was that it was true—there is a power.

Do you follow what I am talking about? It is not that they merely deified nature. The understanding is—let me give an illustration.

The Ramakrishna Example

Here is a person. He is called Sri Ramakrishna. We see extraordinary things, manifestations of powers in him, and therefore we say he is an incarnation of God. So we deify him. Now, "Ramakrishna, you are an incarnation of God." What we are doing is maybe he is not God, but we are making him God.

The other way round is: maybe we did not know him. Maybe he was really God, but gradually we are discovering that he is God. Through these extraordinary manifestations, we are recognizing that he is nothing but God. What is the difference between these two? The first view is it is not reality—you made him through your imagination a reality. The other thing is it was the reality. You only discovered that reality.

Western Scholars' Misunderstanding

So some of these Western scholars, studying these Vedas and other things, they go on talking nonsense that these people deified the nature—which is very true, absolutely true. That is how historical development takes place. But besides deifying the nature, what they really found out was that it was true. It is God alone who manifests in this form.

This is how the Vedic seers—they did not stop merely ignorantly deifying the natural powers, but they discovered that what they deified was not their human action, but merely recognition of the divine power behind every natural phenomenon. That is the important discovery.

The Discovery of God in Natural Phenomena

Then they found—here is, for example, they used to—they had worship. They had to worship God. We also worship God even if we don't talk anything about God. If your nose is closed, do you think of God or not?

Suppose an atheist comes and says, "I don't believe in God," or he comes and tells me, "I don't believe in God." You know what? I will prove to you God exists within a minute. I just don't allow him to breathe. After a minute, does he believe in God or not? He may not say it is God. What does he say? "I want air." What is that air? It is God. Otherwise he would be out.

This is what our Vedic seers have discovered. Though in the beginning they did not know the mystery, they really said that there is a God, there is a power. That power is manifesting in this natural phenomenon.

The Sun: The Most Important Natural Phenomenon

What is the most natural phenomenon of nature? What is the most everyday occurrence phenomenon of nature? Do you know what it is? The rising of the sun and the setting of the sun. Our whole life, wherever you are, all governments, all kingdoms—they run their business only based on one thing. What is that? The rising and setting of the sun. This is day, this is working time; this is night, this is sleeping time.

Anyway, for Hindus, you know, just to make you a little bit happy now and then, there is a beautiful saying in Hinduism. You know, the wise people—how they should spend their time? In the morning, they should think about gambling. At noontime, they should think about women. At night, they should think of stealing, robbing. This is how wise people should spend their time. This has been the injunction of one of the greatest teachings.

What nonsense is it? Even ordinary schoolteachers don't teach this to anyone. What is meant is that in the morning, a wise man should read Mahābhārata because it is only the story of gambling. At noon, they should study Rāmāyaṇa because it is all the story of Sītā being kidnapped. At night, they should think of, read Bhāgavatam, the līlās of Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa. What was he doing? Stealing, etc. That is the real meaning.

The Gāyatrī Mantra

Anyway, the point we are making is that these great Vedic ṛṣis, they found out: early morning you get up, the whole day, the season, life, light, all other seasons depend upon only one phenomenon. What is that phenomenon? The sun. That's why sun becomes Pratyakṣa Devatā (the visible deity).

And in and around that sun came out the most, I mean, important prayer. Even today, millions of people recite morning and evening. What is that? The famous Gāyatrī Mantra. And incidentally, many of you don't know that whenever you recite the Gāyatrī Mantra, you are actually reciting the essence of three Vedas.

The Essence of the Three Vedas

What is the Gāyatrī Mantra? Real Gāyatrī Mantra is—in the beginning, there were three Vedas only were accepted. Later on, the fourth Veda, Atharva Veda, was added later on. So what were those three? Ṛg Veda, Yajur Veda, and Sāma Veda. And it was a vast literature. So somebody went to Brahmā and said, "Look here, sir, I have no time to read this vast, voluminous books. Tell me in essence."

So what Brahmā did? He purchased one mixi (mixer). He put Ṛg Veda there and churned it, and out came this essence. What is that essence? "Om Bhūr Bhuvaḥ Svaḥ Tat Savitur Vareṇyam." Then he took Yajur Veda, put in the mixi, and then again he did. What came out? "Bhargo Devasya Dhīmahi." Then he took Sāma Veda and extracted the essence. What came out? "Dhiyo Yo Naḥ Pracodayāt."

So every person who recites the Gāyatrī is practically reciting all the three Vedas. This is the truth. Now you know, whenever you recite Gāyatrī Mantra, this "Bhūr Bhuvaḥ Svaḥ" was added later on for improving that one. The real Gāyatrī Mantra is only "Tat Savitur Vareṇyam, Bhargo Devasya Dhīmahi, Dhiyo Yo Naḥ Pracodayāt," ending there. Okay.

Vedic Worship and Fire Rituals

So in example, the sun was deified; then the fire was most important thing. So in the Vedic times, this worship, you know, nowadays we call it pūjā. Pūjā means what? These gods and goddesses, then you collect flowers and fruits and things, etc. But in the olden days, such a type of worship was not there.

First of all, they were nomadic people. So theirs was what I call laptop worship. You know what was laptop worship? Mobile worship. Fire was the shrine. And whatever they wanted to offer, they offered into the fire. The main worship was: you recite certain mantras and you put into the fire certain things. That is the real worship. That was called yajña. Nowadays only all these elaborate things was there. So wherever they moved, in the morning and in the evening, they lighted up the fire, recited some prayers, put something—you see, they had milk and all those things—put into the fire, and that is how their worship continued for a long time.

The remnants of that type of fire—now we see, whenever we do special worship, we don't do it here, but when we do it in devotees' houses, we do that homa after the Kālīpūjā. We do—that's a remnant of that.

Worship of Natural Phenomena

Every natural phenomenon—the rain, rain god; the cloud, cloud god; the moon, moon god; the fire, fire god; the water, water god; the earth, earth goddess—like that, every phenomenon was worshipped.

Later on, they found out that without the power behind them, this nature will not be cooperative. To make the nature cooperative, we have to placate that power behind this phenomenon. So they have developed certain prayers, you know, Sanskrit prayers, like English prayer: "O Sun, be propitious to us."

The Essence of Prayer

The essence of any prayer is only two sentences. Do you know what it is? "May you make me happy. May you never make me unhappy." These are the two sentences. Sometimes we add two more sentences because we have enemies: "May our enemies always be unhappy. May they never be happy." But really speaking, only two sentences, or even one sentence: "May I always be happy." This is the essence of all worship.

Development of Vedic Theology

So they went on. There were thirty-three identified gods at the time of Vedic civilization. Later on, in course of time, they made it three hundred. Then later on, three thousand. They make it thirty-three crores. Thirty-three crores—as many people, yato mato tato (wherever there is a mind, there)—as many people, so many gods and goddesses.

The Question of Monotheism

But when the question came, in course of time: Are there really so many gods? Then some serious people—and we must always know one thing: at any given time in society, there will be only very few thoughtful people. Everybody will not be a ṛṣi or a seer. Very one or two, only thoughtful people—they started questioning. So many gods? How many gods? How can there be so many gods? If there were to be more than one god, there would certainly be a kind of conflict between them. And if two gods are fighting, that means two human beings are fighting. That is the meaning. So there must be only one God. There is no place for a second god.

Henotheism

Then what happened was, there were two developments. Max Müller—he coined a special word for it. He called it henotheism. Henotheism means: take up one particular god and extol him. "You are the supreme Lord. You are what we call Brahman. You are the only one. Everybody else is like that." First take up Agni, then take up Indra, then take up Viṣṇu, then take up Rudra, etc. This is one phenomenon. Even now that phenomenon is going on in an indirect way.

The Discovery of One Reality

The second method is finding out ultimately that actually there is only one God, and that God is called Mitra or Indra or Varuṇa or Candramās. "Ekam sad viprāḥ bahudhā vadanti"—Truth is one. Reality is one. Sages call that reality by various names.

This was the greatest Vedic discovery, which is the very foundation of Hinduism, which Sri Ramakrishna had corroborated through his experiences by actually practicing Christianity and Islam and various paths in Hinduism itself, and said that every religion is valid. It takes us to the same goal. But a marvelous discovery this is. But the beginning was made thousands of years back. How many thousands of years back? Nobody knows, but we guess at least eleven thousand years back. But as I said, it is not all of a sudden one day development. The development came very, very gradually. It has come. These are the important teachings.

Evolution of Vedic Philosophy

Then you see, later on, these Vedas—they have started first prayers, prayers for happiness, happiness in this world, then prayers for happiness in the other world. Then the question came: This world and the other world—is there no permanent happiness? Yes, there is a permanent happiness. We are all divine. Every soul is potentially divine. This creation, whole creation came from that one Supreme Lord. But it took a lot of time for this conclusion to be arrived at.

So then these Vedas, Vedic society I was talking about, because this is the background. It was also necessary because many Hindus think that their ancestors never ate beef or pork or any such thing. They all had—very nicely—all those things. In the middle, some of these customs had come, and it is good—neither good nor bad. You observe it, it is fine. If you don't observe it, don't think you will go to the other place. It is a very common thing.

Summary of Vedic Development

Slowly deifying the nature, natural phenomena—that was the beginning of religious development. It developed very nicely, and in the course of time, they found out it is not that we are deifying nature, but we are only discovering the natural powers of God through our limited intellectual powers. And they found out also there is only one reality with infinite power. That Brahman is eternal, infinite, omniscient, omnipotent. He can do anything He likes, and the whole creation has come from Him, and therefore all the creation is again going back to that original cause from which it has arrived. This was the ultimate conclusion.

But as we said, you know, this understanding came over thousands of years of this thing. But at one point, even thousands of years back, this idea became complete. That is why when that idea became complete, they drew a line and said: "Whatever happened—discoveries were made, developments were made—that would be called Veda. That is called Śruti or the heard divine revelation. Whatever comes after that will all fall under the category of Smṛti or secondary scripture or human constructions." Okay.

The Essential Teaching: Dharma

Now we will also briefly discuss what is the essence of these Vedas. He said in the beginning, what was that? He said all the scriptures of any religion are here to teach us only one thing: how to be happy in this world, how to be happy in the other world. They used one word for that: Dharma. Dharma means happiness.

How to Become Dharmic

How can we be Dharmic? That's where the Vedic specialty is there. What is the specialty? It is said: It is not that you will have to get happiness—it is that you are happiness. You are immortal. You are pure consciousness. You are an embodiment of bliss. You are Sat. You are Cit. You are Ānanda. You have forgotten. Therefore, when you are saying "I want happiness," don't search anywhere outside. Search within.

But then each person has to be taught in an elementary way. Some elementary school children have to be taught in one way; advanced students have to be taught in another way. So in course of time, they evolved two methods: one is called the slow method, Pravṛtti Mārga; another is called the assaulting the fort by force, as it were, climbing as it were to the very peak straight and direct without any roundabout way, and that is called Nivṛtti Mārga.

The Vedas teach only Dharma.

The Organization of Vedic Teaching

Now to teach that Dharma, they have to take into consideration whom they are teaching. Then they found, when they opened their eyes, "Who are these people whom they are teaching?" They found out four categories of people. At least they said:

The Four Varṇas

1. The Brāhmaṇas: The priestly class, the intellectuals, the spiritual people
2. The Kṣatriyas: The less spiritual, less brain, more brawn—the warrior class
3. The Vaiśyas: Still less brain, neither brawn, a little brain, a little brawn, but a large amount of hard work—the third class, what is called bartering class or merchant class
4. The Śūdras: The fourth class—all those who have much less brain, much less brawn, to be treated almost like animals

Brāhmaṇa, Kṣatriya, Vaiśya, and Śūdra.

The Four Āśramas (Stages of Life)

Then they divided life, everybody's life, into four stages. What is that?

1. Brahmacarya (Student Life): First you learn—what is life? How you can be happy in life? Only by being Dharmic. Learn what is Dharma, what is righteousness.
2. Gārhasthya (Married Life): Then you learn how to put it into practice.
3. Vānaprastha (Retired Life): After some time, you will be unable to do a lot of things. Then how do you want to spend your time?
4. Sannyāsa (Monastic Life): Then at a point will come when you will say, "I am tired of this life. I want to be liberated."

So they divided life into four categories: the student's life, the married life, the retired life, and the monastic life—Brahmacarya, Gārhasthya, Vānaprastha, and Sannyāsa.

The Four Puruṣārthas (Goals of Life)

Then they taught what we call four supreme values of life. What are those? We discussed briefly:

1. Dharma: What is your real nature? How you can be happy really?
2. Artha: Find out the instruments through which you can be happy.
3. Kāma: Whatever objects you get, enjoy them in a righteous way—righteous way of acquiring the necessary things, righteous way of experiencing them, so that that will only lead you to happiness.

To give an example: You might buy a lot of sweets legitimately—it's your money—but that doesn't give any right that you can eat the whole pot full. What happens if you eat the whole pot full? Who will suffer? First of all, even if you don't suffer, who will have to work hard to digest it? You will have to do it. But that doesn't lead to any happiness, because when your stomach is overfull, then you won't get any happiness.

That's why it is said: Before enjoying something, at the time of enjoying something, after enjoying something, we should be happy. A thief is not happy before enjoying, at the time of enjoyment he is not happy because he is fearing "Somebody catches me," after enjoyment, "So now somebody may be watching me"—there is no happiness there. So that third one—righteous way of experiencing things—is called Kāma.

1. Mokṣa: After this is called Pravṛtti—this will go for a long time. Then a time will come: "I am tired of this—working, acquiring, enjoying, then again working, then again enjoying. I want where I can be completely free from all these things." Then comes the monastic life.

Application to the Four Āśramas

So the students have to learn: What is the goal of life? What is Dharma? How to accept Dharma? How to practice Dharma?

And in married life, you get married, and you practice Dharma and do everything that the scripture teaches, asks you to do. That will give you the mental capacity to rest, to retire without getting bored. What a wonderful thing it is! Now you do it mentally—whatever you are doing physically, do it mentally.

And in the fourth, monastic life: Find out who you really are and be who you really are. Know who you are and be who you are. These are the four stages of life.

Division of the Vedas

And in order to make this possible, they divided the Veda into four categories. What are those four categories?

First of all, I said Vedas are divided into four types. What are those four? You remember: Ṛg Veda, Yajur Veda, Sāma Veda, and Atharva Veda.

Karmakāṇḍa and Jñānakāṇḍa

Each Veda is divided into, in one classification, into two categories:

1. Karmakāṇḍa: The action-oriented part
2. Jñānakāṇḍa: The knowledge-oriented part

It's very interesting. What is action-oriented part? Though this will take little time, bear with me. It's important to understand this. Why this division has been made?

See, supposing you have a desire to enjoy, to be happy. Then you think, "How can I be happy? I like, I love sweets. If I can eat sweets, I will be happy." Then what do you do? You work hard, earn the money, buy the sweetmeat, and then you eat the sweetmeat. This is called action. As a result of doing all these things, what happens? You know, "I have eaten sweetmeat. I am happy." That knowledge comes into the mind.

Suppose you are actually—you want to eat sweets, but you have not done anything of these things, but you go to sleep hungry and you dream you entered into a sweetmeat shop, you ate full of stomach. Are you happy or not? If you can get that knowledge without doing all these actions, you are equally happy or more happy. That's what monastic life is about. Yeah, that's what is called God realization.

Karmakāṇḍa deals with: What are those things which a person needs to do so that he can acquire all the things that lead to happiness, including the state of mind?

And Jñānakāṇḍa tells you: You see, if you go through this action-oriented mode, every time you want to enjoy some, be happy, you have to do something. Is there any way to be happy without doing anything? Yes, there is one way. That is called knowledge-oriented part of the Vedas. You meditate. It's called also Upāsanā, meditation.

What is Meditation?

What is meditation? What happens when you meditate? You see God. He is never unhappy. Can you imagine a God who is unhappy? You will never imagine why. He is perfect. That means He has everything. But He has nothing. Having everything means having nothing. Why? Having everything means "I have everything." He is perfectly happy. If we can attain to that state, then you don't need to do anything.

That is why self-realization or God realization is the thing that is advocated in the Upaniṣads.

The Four Parts of Each Veda

In another way of division, these Vedas have also been divided into four parts:

1. Saṁhitā: A collection of prayers
2. Brāhmaṇa: Brāhmaṇa means how to use these prayers along with a kind of worship—how many items you need, what items you need to offer, which particular mantra you have to repeat while offering a particular object, etc., etc., in a detailed way.
3. Āraṇyaka: It is actually meant for retired people. This is Āraṇyaka, means forest scriptures. That means a person retired goes to a solitary spot or a jungle, a forest, and there he sits down and mentally he does which is called Upāsanā or contemplation.
4. Upaniṣads: The fourth part of these forest treatises—they are called Upaniṣads because they are the very essence of these forest treatises. They are called Upaniṣads.

So: Saṁhitā, Āraṇyaka, Brāhmaṇa, and Upaniṣads.

Correlation with the Āśramas

Every Veda has got these four parts, and these four parts are wisely—they have put:

• For the student, this first part, Saṁhitā
• For the householder, the ritualistic part—how to put these prayers into actual action
• These retired persons, they go to the forest and they do mental contemplation
• Then for those who have taken to monastic life, they study the Upaniṣads

See how beautifully it is done.

Correlation with Pravṛtti and Nivṛtti

Another way of division was I said Pravṛtti and Nivṛtti—worldly happiness and this thing. So the student life and the Brahmacarya life, these are meant for—or the Saṁhitā, the Brāhmaṇa—they are meant for Pravṛtti. So how to obtain worldly happiness. Whereas the forest treatises and the Upaniṣads are meant for the people who want to achieve liberation.

This is how the division has been so beautifully made.

Summary of Vedic Teachings

So what do these Vedas—a few teachings we have to take—really teach? I only already told you what they teach, but I will have to give you a few quotations which I will do in our next class.

The other things, other scriptures, I will not go into such elaborate details. I wanted to go only because all the other scriptures are dependent upon these Vedas. So we have to understand what was the Vedic society at that time. We should not be under any delusion that everything has fallen from the sky overnight and all the Vedic Ṛṣis were enlightened souls overnight. Not like that. It took a long time.

The Progressive Development

Then:

• First, nature worship
• Deification of the nature
• Then understanding the secret, the mystery which lies behind the natural phenomena
• Then discovering the gods or gods who were responsible for that
• Then coalescing all those gods and making them into one single reality
• And ultimately discovering that single reality is everywhere, both within and without

And if it is everywhere, that is called Brahman. If it is within us, it is called Ātman. This was the ultimate teaching which we will find in the Upaniṣads.

Just to give you a few quotations and move on to a little bit elaboration of the other scriptures in our next class.

Closing Prayer

ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः

Om Śānti, Śānti, Śānti.

Om, peace, peace, peace be unto all.