The Vedas

There are four Vedas, the Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda and Atharva Veda. The Vedas are the primary texts of
Hinduism. They also had a vast influence on Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. Traditionally the text of the Vedas was
coeval with the universe. Scholars have determined that the Rig Veda, the oldest of the four Vedas, was composed
about 1500 B.C., and codified about 600 B.C. It is unknown when it was finally committed to writing, but this probably
was at some point after 300 B.C.

The Vedas contain hymns, incantations, and rituals from ancient India. Along with the Book of the Dead, the Enuma
Elish, the I Ching, and the Avesta, they are among the most ancient religious texts still in existence. Besides their
spiritual value, they also give a unique view of everyday life in India four thousand years ago. The Vedas are also the
most ancient extensive texts in an Indo-European language, and as such are invaluable in the study of comparative
linguistics.

The "Rig Veda" is an ancient Indian text collection that compiles 1,028 Vedic Sanskrit hymns and 10,600 verses
dedicated to Rigvedic deities. It is organized into 10 books, called mandalas. Together with "Yajur Veda," "Sama
Veda" and "Atharva Veda," "Rig Veda" is one of the four canonical sacred texts of Hinduism, known collectively as
the Vedas. "Rig Veda" is the oldest of the Vedas, and one of the oldest extant texts in any Indo-European language.

 RIG VEDA
The "Rig Veda" outlines one of the most ancient forms of yoga, and provides information about the practice
of yoga and other spiritual disciplines.

 Yogapedia explains Rig Veda

 There is some discussion about the age of the "Rig Veda." While modern Western scholars tend to date its
creation around 1500 B.C.E., other great yogis and scholars date it to before 4000 B.C.E., perhaps as early
as 12,000 B.C.E.
 Many of the mantras in the "Rig Veda" are hymns to the gods, asking them for help and benefits like health,
wealth and long life. Besides hymns of praise, the mantras contain blessings and curses. Originally, the
mantras were meant to be chanted as part of religious rituals and this was the main way in which the people
communicated with the gods.
 The "Rig Veda" is said to be the Veda of mantra. Mantra is the foundation of Vedic yoga, the oldest form of
yoga. The "Rig Veda" contains the oldest iterations of many Sanskrit mantras. Many aspects of Vedic
science -- like the practice of yoga, meditation, mantra and Ayurveda -- can be found in the "Rig Veda," and
many of its teachings are still being used in these practices today.

SAMA VEDA
Sama Veda" is an ancient Hindu scripture and one of the four main Vedas of Hinduism. It is a collection of melodies
and chants, and is also called the "Book of Song," "Veda of Chants" or even "Yoga of Song." It is basically the words
of the "Rig Veda" put to music.

"Sama Veda" should not be read or recited, but sung. It contains about 1,900 verses, almost all of them taken from
the "Rig Veda."

Vedic scholar, David Frawley, describes "Sama Veda" as follows: "If 'Rig Veda' is the word, 'Sama Veda' is the song;
if 'Rig Veda' is the knowledge, 'Sama Veda' is the realization; if 'Rig Veda' is the wife, 'Sama Veda' is the husband."

Frawley also used the term, Vedic yoga, for yoga based on the Vedas. According to him, "Sama Veda"
represents the mind and heaven.

The Samaveda (Sanskrit: सससससस, sāmaveda, from sāman "song" and veda"knowledge"), is the Veda of melodies
and chants. It is an ancient Vedic Sanskrit text, and part of the scriptures of Hinduism. One of the four Vedas, it is a
liturgical text which consists of 1,875 verses. ... It is also referred to as Sama Veda.

YAJUR VEDA

The Yajur Veda is one of the oldest books in the Vedas and arguably one of the oldest texts recorded in the world.
The Yajur Veda is a Samhita, which is one of four sections of the Hindu holy scriptures which has the highest
influence upon the lives of the Hindus (Rai 10). A Samhita is a collection of mantras, or hymns, most of which sing
the praises of one or another personal god (Prabhavananda 31). Its origins are speculated to go as far back as 2000
B.C. when the Vedas were orally kept (Santucci xi). It was not until a millennium later around 1000 B.C. when
the Yajur Veda was compiled (Staal 749). In the Rgveda itself the Yajurveda and the Samaveda are mentioned in a
number of passages (Saraswati 192), leading to the assumption that these three Samhitas were around at the same
time.

The ‘Yajur Veda’ is translated as “the knowledge of sacrificial formulae (yajus)” (Santucci 11). The Vedas – Rg veda,
Yajur veda, Sama veda and Atharva veda — are the first four of the pramanas(authoritative texts) of the religion and
also the most important (Saraswati 136). The Yajur Veda along with the other Vedas (Rg, Sama, Atharva) is
considered to be apauresya (divine in origin) (Prabhavananda 25). In particular the Yajur Veda is referenced to and
used by the Adhvarya priest (Santucci 11).

The Vedas are considered to be “revealed”, divinely inspired (Jamison 10). The Vedas are regarded as sruti:
uncreated, eternal and revealed to sages (Sharma 6). The Vedas were received by visionaries (rsi) who saw with a
special psychic perception the sacred mantras upon which they meditated and finally communicated in the form of
the Vedas (Cush, Robinson, York 694). The Vedas are ‘revealed’ at the beginning of each cosmic age to seers who
‘see’ the Vedas and teach it orally to their disciples (Sutherland, Houlden, et al. 575)

ATHARVA VEDA (Sanskrit: ससससससससस atharvaveda, a tatpurusha compound of Atharvan, an ancient Rishi, and
Veda, meaning "knowledge") is a sacred text of Hinduism and one of the four Vedas, often called the "fourth Veda".
According to tradition, the Atharva Veda was mainly composed by two groups of rishis known as the Atharvanas and
the Angirasa, hence its oldest name is Ātharvāṅgirasa. In the Late VedicGopatha Brahmana, it is attributed to
the Bhrigu and Angirasa. Additionally, tradition ascribes parts to other rishis, such as Kauśika, Vasiṣṭhaand Kaśyapa.
There are two surviving recensions (śākhās), known as Śaunakīya (AVS) and Paippalāda (AVP).

The Atharvaveda is composed in Vedic Sanskrit, and it is a collection of 730 hymns with about 6,000 mantras,
divided into 20 books.[4]About a sixth of the Atharvaveda text adapts verses from the Rigveda, and except for Books
15 and 16, the text is in poem form deploying a diversity of Vedic matters.[4] Two different recensions of the text –
the Paippalāda and the Śaunakīya – have survived into modern times.[5] Reliable manuscripts of the Paippalada
edition were believed to have been lost, but a well-preserved version was discovered among a collection of palm leaf
manuscripts in Odisha in 1957.[5]
The Atharvaveda is sometimes called the "Veda of magical formulas", [1] an epithet declared to be incorrect by other
scholars.[6] In contrast to the 'hieratic religion' of the other three Vedas, the Atharvaveda is said to represent a
'popular religion', incorporating not only formulas for magic, but also the daily rituals for initiation into learning
(upanayana), marriage and funerals. Royal rituals and the duties of the court priests are also included in the
Atharvaveda

According to Swami Vivekananda, "the accumulated treasury of spiritual laws discovered by different persons in
different times" constitutes the sacred Hindu texts. Collectively referred to as the Shastras, there are two types of
sacred writings in the Hindu scriptures: Shruti (heard) and Smriti (memorized).
Sruti literature refers to the habit of ancient Hindu saints who led a solitary life in the woods, where they
developed a consciousness that enabled them to 'hear' or cognize the truths of the universe. Sruti literature is in
two parts: the Vedas and the Upanishads.
There are four Vedas:
 The Rig Veda -"Royal Knowledge"
 The Sama Veda - "Knowledge of Chants"
 The Yajur Veda - "Knowledge of Sacrificial Rituals"
 The Atharva Veda - "Knowledge of Incarnations"

UPANISHADS

The oldest scriptures of India and the most important are the Vedas. All orthodox Hindus recognize in them the origin
of their faith and its highest written authority.
The Vedas are four in number: Rik, Sama, Yajur, and Atharva. Each of these is divided into two parts: Work and
Knowledge. The first is mainly made up of hymns, instructions regarding rites and ceremonies, and rules of conduct.
The second is concerned with knowledge of God, the highest aspect of religious truth, and is called—Upanishads.

The literal meaning of upanishad, "sitting near devotedly," brings picturesquely to mind an earnest disciple learning
from his teacher. The word also means "secret teaching"—secret, no doubt, because a teaching vouchsafed only to
those who are spiritually ready to receive and profit by it. The great seventh-century commentator Shankara sponsors
still another interpretation: knowledge of God—"the knowledge of Brahman, the knowledge that destroys the bonds of
ignorance and leads to the supreme goal of freedom."

How many Upanishads once existed is unknown. One hundred and eight have been preserved, these ranging in
length from a few hundred to many thousands of words, some in prose, some in verse, some part one, part the other.
In style and manner they vary widely, often within the same Upanishad, being now simply and concretely narrative,
now subtly and abstractly expository, often assuming, in either case, a dialogue form. Their tone too fluctuates, the
characteristic seriousness and elevation finding occasional relief in homely humor. Who wrote them no one knows,
nor, with any accuracy, when they were written. The Rishis whose insight they embody remain wholly in the
background, impersonal as the truth they stood for, their individual lives lost forever, and even their names—
In the dark backward and abysm of time.

Of the one hundred and eight extant Upanishads, sixteen were recognized by Shankara as authentic and
authoritative. In his commentary on the Brahma Sutras he included quotations from six. On the other ten he wrote
elaborate commentaries. It is these ten which have come to be generally regarded as the principal Upanishads.
Following are their names: Katha, Isha, Kena, Prasna, Mundaka, Man-dukya, Taittiriya, Aitareya, Chandogya,
Brihadaranyaka. Together they constitute, and will probably always constitute, the primary object of attention for all
who would know the Hindu religion. The Kaivalya and the Sve-tasvatara, both among Shankara's sixteen, and special
favorites of Swami Prabhavananda, are also included in the present translation.

A characteristic of the Upanishads is their homogeneity. Many apparently differing conceptions are to be found in
them, but these are, roughly speaking, to be found in all of them, not distributed, one in one Upanishad, another in
another. It is true that one Upanishad may emphasize certain ideas, or a certain view, more than the rest, or may
specialize as it were in a particular topic; but such distinctions often seem purely accidental, and are never important.
The partitions between the Upanishads might therefore, for all practical purposes, be completely done away with, the
whole hundred and eight being reduced to one.Another and more important characteristic arises from the fact that the
Upanishads are the work of saints and seers. Their authors were concerned with reporting insights, which came to
them in thought or vision, not with making these insights superficially coherent. They were not builders of systems but
recorders of experience. We must be prepared, therefore, for apparent inconsistency, for oblivious-ness to one
conception through temporary absorption in another. Nowhere must we expect to find the whole truth gathered
together once for all in easy, conscious, triumphant formulation.Still another characteristic of the Upanishads has to
do with their form. Never were ideas set down—an expositor might suspect—with less regard for his convenience.
Nowhere is there a logical beginning, nowhere a logical end. Furthermore, attention at all points is not upon parts,
clearly recognized as parts, but upon wholes—upon brief, comprehensive, unanalyzed statement, it may be, or upon
such particular elements as round out, when taken together, a momentary conception.For the study of the Vedas,
according to long tradition, and even according to the Vedas themselves, one must have a master, or Guru:
"Approach a teacher," we read in the Rik, "with humility and with a desire to serve"; and in the Upanishads: "To many
it is not given to hear of the Self. Many, though they hear of it, do not understand it. Wonderful is he who speaks of it.
Intelligent is he who learns of it. Blessed is he who, taught by a good teacher, is able to understand it."The function of
the good teacher, as Hinduism conceives him, is twofold. He of course explains the scriptures, the spirit as well as
the letter; but, what is more important still, he teaches by his life—by his daily acts, by his most casual words,
sometimes even by his silence. Only to be near him, only to serve and obey him in humility and in reverence, is to
become quickened in spirit; and the purpose of study of the scriptures is not merely or primarily to inform the intellect,
but to purify and enrich the soul:

Pleasant indeed are the study and the teaching of the Vedast
He who engages in these things attains to concentration
And is no longer a slave to his passions;
Devout, self-controlled, disciplined in spirit,

He rises to fame and is a blessing to mankind.

We have said that the orthodox Hindu regards the Vedas as his highest written authority. Any subsequent scripture, if
he is to regard it as valid, must be in agreement with them: it may expand upon them, it may develop them, and still
be recognized, but it must not contradict them. They are to him, as nearly as any human document can be, the
expression of divine truth. At the same time it would be a mistake to suppose that his allegiance to their authority is
slavish or blind. If he considers them the word of God, it is because he believes their truth to be verifiable,
immediately, at any moment, in his own personal experience. If he found on due examination that it was not so
verifiable, he would reject it. If he found that any part of it was not so verifiable, he would reject that. And in this
position the scriptures, he will tell you, uphold him. The real study, say the Upanishads, is not study of themselves but
study of that "by which we realize the changeless." In other words, the real study in religion is first-hand experience of
God.

Indeed the term Vedas, as used by the orthodox, not only names a large body of texts handed down by generation
after generation, but in another sense stands for nothing less than the inexpressible truth of which all scriptures are of
necessity a pale reflection. Regarded in this second aspect, the Vedas are infinite and eternal. They are that perfect
knowledge which is God.
Gita is one of the most influential treatise in eastern philosophy. The Bhagavad-Gitais the eternal message of
spiritual wisdom from ancient India. The word Gita means song and the word. Bhagavad means God, often the
Bhagavad-

GGita ( it's actually Git and not Gita. It's because we add an extra "a" to Hindi words in English eg. Ram
becomes Rama etc) = Song , It is actually said to be spoken by Lord Krishna , however because of its rhyming
meter which is so beautifully harmonic and melodious .

The Bhagavad Gita is a Hindu sacred text originally written in Sanskrit that forms part of a larger epic,
the "Mahabharata." Yoga is presented in the Bhagavad Gita as the process by which a person can connect with
the Absolute or Divine.
The Bhagavad Gita is a narrative that is told through a dialogue between Arjuna, a warrior, and his charioteer,
Lord Krishna. Arjuna doubts whether he should go into battle and Krishna explains that he must fulfill his dharma,
or duty, as a warrior. In his explanation, Krishna discusses various types of yoga, including Jnana, Bhakti,
Karma and Raja.
Some consider the battle described in the Bhagavad Gita to be an allegory for human life.

“It is better to live your own destiny imperfectly than to live an imitation of somebody else’s life with perfection.
The power of God is with you at all times; through the activities of mind, senses, breathing, and emotions; and is
constantly doing all the work using you as a mere instrument. A gift is pure when it is given from the heart to the
right person at the right time and at the right place, and when we expect nothing in return.
-The Bhagavad Gita

Gita is one of the most influential treatise in eastern philosophy. The Bhagavad-Gita is the eternal message of
spiritual wisdom from ancient India. The word Gita means song and the word. Bhagavad means God, often the
Bhagavad-Gita is called the Song of God. It has molded traditions and made great men for thousands of years.
Spoken by Krishna to his disciple Arjuna at the battlefield of Kurushetra, Gita, answers major questions of our
lives and existence. Krishna also called lila-avatar is one of those extra-ordinary personalities who life stories are
enough to help us attain an enlightenment. Bhagvad Gita is the thought-process behind that extra-ordinary life
that lived singing, dancing and remaining peaceful amidst a great battle. Lord Krishna Said, “Reshape yourself
through the power of your will” Those who have conquered themselves live in peace, alike in cold and heat,
pleasure and pain, praise and blame, To such people a clod of dirt, a stone, and gold are the same, Because
they are impartial, they rise to great heights.

Hell has three gates: lust, anger, and greed. The concept that we are not the body, but souls with eternal
existence and omnipresent nature that can not be destroyed immediately changes the outlook we have over life.
The mere rush for worldly things, name , fame, power and sense pleasures in order to satisfy ourselves looks
useless when we understand that we are not the body but the soul. Soul has no need for all these material
things. It is a part of the cosmic spirit/divinity/God. Our essence is thus God. In reality, we are not us, but what
we really are is God who is all pervading exists everywhere and in everything. Bhagvat Gita Says “The demonic
do things they should avoid and avoid the things they should do, Hypocritical, proud, and arrogant, living in
delusion and clinging to their deluded ideas, insatiable in their desires, they pursue unclean ends, Bound on all
sides by scheming and anxiety, driven by anger and greed, they amass by any means they can a hoard of
money for the satisfaction of their cravings. Self-important, obstinate, swept away by the pride of Wealth, they
ostentatiously perform sacrifices without any regard for their purpose. Egotistical, violent, arrogant, lustful, angry,
envious of everyone, they abuse my presence within their own bodies and in the bodies of others”
At this realization of the teaching of Gita, the distinction that exists between men disappears. We realize that
everything is a manifestation or an act of the Spirit/Brahman. The existence is non-dual; God pervades it all over.
This sacred teaching of Krishna attunes us to a higher understanding where we come to realize that all that we
are looking for is within ourselves. We find that the ultimate goal of the human life is Self-realization and the
body, sense organs, mind are mere instruments to worship the divine. Gita says, The person whose mind is
always free from attachment, who has subdued the mind and senses, and who is free from desires, attains the
supreme perfection of freedom from Karma through renunciation. Just as a fire is covered by smoke and a mirror
is obscured by dust, just as the embryo rests deep within the womb, wisdom is hidden by selfish desire
Identifying ourselves not with the body, but the soul at once changes everything. Soul is all pervading, it is
eternal and it is God himself. We have an eternal fountain of wisdom, knowledge and bliss within us as soon as
we get rid of our body/mind identification. That is enlightenment. That is Self-Realization.
According to Krishna, this life is just a dream of those souls that have attached themselves to false things, to
home, to wife, to the body, to the pleasures and to all things that signify dualities. Once the soul frees himself
from all fetters of attachments and aversions, it attains ultimate freedom/moksha. Bhagvad Gita is a philosophical
treatise of Krishna’s life. It is a formula to ultimate freedom, knowledge and BLISS.

The Bhagavad Gita is an ancient Indian text that became an important work of Hindu tradition in terms of
both literature and philosophy. The earliest translations of this work from Sanskritinto English were made
around 1795 CE by Sir Charles Wilkins. The name Bhagavad Gita means “the song of the Lord”. It is composed
as a poem and it contains many key topics related to the Indian intellectual and spiritual tradition. Although it is
normally edited as an independent text, the Bhagavad Gita became a section of a massive Indian epic named
“The Mahabharata”, the longest Indian epic. There is a part in the middle of this long text, consisting of 18 brief
chapters and about 700 verses: this is the section known as the Bhagavad Gita. It is also referred to as the Gita,
for short.
AUTHORSHIP & ORIGIN
The Bhagavad Gita was written at some point between 400 BCE and 200 CE. Like the Vedasand
the Upanishads, the authorship of the Bhagavad Gita is unclear. However, the credit for this text is traditionally
given to a man named Vyasa, who is more of a legend than an actual historical figure; because of this, Vyasa
has been compared to Homer, the great figure of ancient Greek epic poetry.
It has been suggested that the Bhagavad Gita was originally an independent text as, except for the first chapter,
the Bhagavad Gita does not develop the action of the Mahabharata. Furthermore, the Bhagavad Gita is at odds
with the general style and content of the Mahabharata. Once the Gita is over, the narration of
the Mahabharata resumes.
The Gita was written during a time of important social change in India, with kingdoms getting larger,
increasing urbanization, more trade activity, and social conflict similar to what was happening
when Jainism and Buddhism developed. This ancient Indian text is about the search for serenity, calmness,
and permanence in a world of rapid change and how to integrate spiritual values into ordinary life