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Vedic Hinduism
Vedas
Hinduism
Religion
India
Why are the Vedas held in so high regard among so many Indians, even though one
finds some quiet obnoxious rituals and chants in them ? How many people who disp
lay this faith in the Vedas have actually read them, do you think ?
I fail to see anything in the Vedas, that would not be any book written by any o
ther group of tribal people who lived long ago. I also fail to see how advanced
mathematics could be found in such books - as claimed by "Vedic Mathematics". Of
ten such claims actually reveal that the verses are so general or just so diffic
ult to decipher, that they could have meant almost anything else.
If people are finding it difficult to see how the Vedas contain obnoxious ritual
s, I want to bring to their attention the "Aswamedha Yagya", in which the queen
has to do something which is too revolting to be specified here.
I would like to apologize for being a little rude.
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Prasanth Chandrahasan
Prasanth Chandrahasan, Blissed Out!
546 Views
I don't think vedas are held that high in respect. People tend to agree that the
y are long, hard to read and understand and generally consists of hymns in prais
e of nature.
Vedanta or Upanishads might be more respected. I have heard the argument that v
edas and huge and that many don't complete reading them. But when we do, we get
to Vedanta (literarily the end of Vedas) it contains non-duality which is the ep
itome of Hindu thought.
Now you mentioned that there is nothing new in Vedas compared to any other triba
l literature produced during the time. The issue with argument is that you have
to get your timeline correct. Vedas were considered to be written by Aryans aft
er they invaded North India and drove away the native Dravidians to the south. S
ome people even question if this Aryan invasion theory is right.
If we agree that Vedas were written 2000 to 3000 years BCE then that makes them
2000 to 3000 years after written script was invented. For a text that's pretty i
mpressive if you ask me.
As you mentioned the content of Vedas is mostly nature worship. The gods were Ru
dra, Varuna etc...very Shamanic and very rooted in nature. This, eventually deve
loped in to polytheism of Hinduism. So Vedas tend to be the template on which fu
ture faith evolved.
When we look at ancient texts you have to be mindful of the circumstances under
which they were written. We don't use them as a source of our morals or ethics.
So books like Manusmriti are purely looked at for academic interest. I hold this

same view for Vedas too. This is also true for Bhagavad Gita. People tend to us
e Bhagavad Gita as a guidebook for life. I respectfully disagree with it. This r
eason is - Bhagavad Gita justifies war and violence. In my version of morality,
violence cannot be justified no matter what the circumstance is. But then what t
he heck? I am supposed to obey the rules of the land I live and not some archaic
values put together thousands of years back. Just to give you an example, Manus
mriti has a hymn which roughly translates to "Women do not deserve freedom". I h
ave seen people vigorously discussing this while the issues facing women are rea
l and happening right in front of our own eyes.
So I urge every one to put on the glass of reason and look at things for what th
ey are. Just to re-pharse the question for you - "Does it really matter if the V
edas contain obnoxious hymns and chants?"
Written Mar 16, 2015 View Upvotes
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Anonymous
Anonymous
Again, not the answer to my question. But I would almost agree.
Report Mar 16, 2015
Ravi Odedra
Ravi Odedra
Do you not agree to violence in self defence?
Report Mar 18, 2015
Prasanth Chandrahasan: Not if it involves taking a life.
Prabhu Ksb
Prabhu Ksb
162 Views Prabhu is a Most Viewed Writer in Vedas.
Many people don't read the Vedas but form opinions on them ...
There are people who read the Vedas and fail to understand them...
I remember reading the meaning of the Verses in my childhood and thinking, what
is all this? this is all begging god for riches and health and wealth? and there
are verses in the Vedas which just seem absurd , like ravings of lunatics ...
Now after growing up ... I am able to get a hint of the meaning of the verses an
d I am overwhelmed ... The genius of those sages astounds me...
Like you said, they are not obscene chants and rituals, but have great meaning b
ehind them...and sages are not just ordinary people who died... they are people
who overcame death and became one with god...
The Vedas speak of things beyond the grasp of the senses... so a person who has
overcome the limitation of his senses and his mind can only understand them prop
erly...
Intellectually one can get only a hint about them...
There is science in the Vedas ... It came about in performing rituals... the con
struction of the Sacrificial halls have many calculations... math, astronomy etc
...
But it is nothing compared to the ideas in the Vedas...
Previously teachers used to ascertain the eligibility of the student before teac
hing him all this... they kept this knowledge secret so that people wont misrepr
esent them.... but this secretive nature prevented common people from taking ben
efit of them...ofcourse the Itihasas, Puranas and Agamas etc...are for explainin
g the teachings of the Vedas in the form of stories...

But the real thing is so much more awe inspiring...

Now, everyone has access to them but people glance at them and say there is noth
ing in them...
There is a saying that The owl thinks there is no light in the world...It is lik
e that...
If you want to understand the meaning of the Vedas ... you should study the teac
hings of great sages... Like Shankaracharya, or Vivekananda , Sivananda etc... t
hose who have attained god and with direct experience understood the meaning of
the Vedas...
There are so many books these days....anybody and everybody writes books ... lik
e blind leading the blind , they don't understand it themselves and they become
preachers and disturb people...
I see politicians, writers, movie makers criticizing religion and making fun of
it and I feel so disappointed... It is a fashion nowadays to call everyone wrong
... nobody is great .... Rama and Krishna should apologize to these fools ....
The divine Law-Giver Manu is called sexist ... a fool puts himself as the Judge
of the highest ... he writes a book criticizing Sages and Scriptures... or give
speeches ...It is like dogs howling at elephants...
But you see, in all this... who is losing out? the sages attain immortality and
we are left here fighting...
"Take thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy g
round" said the lord to Moses
So in approaching the Sages or Scriptures ... one should remove ones ego and in
all humility learn of them and try to understand them and realize them in ones o
wn life....
Written Mar 13, 2015 View Upvotes
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Anonymous
Anonymous
You have been helpful. Thanks. Well this might seem obnoxious but I refer the At
harva Veda which contains the description of the "Asvamedha Yagya". Please tell
me what good do you see in this ritual.
Report Mar 13, 2015
Prabhu Ksb
Prabhu Ksb
Ashwamedha is done so that there is a single rule in the country... so that king
s wont fight with each other which would result in so much death and destruction
...
China was also united that way... hence the name ...
In Ashwamedha , the sacrifice is done in the name of god...
no just a horse... around 100 animals are sacrificed in it... even a tiger...
Ashwamedas are performed by Emperors not just kings... how many people can do su
ch a Yajna? 100 animals is the highest number ... I think around 10 such instanc
es are mentioned in the vedas
there are 21 sacrifices which are compulsory(atleast once in life) out of 400 an

d 9 have animal sacrifices..

I have never heard of it being in the Atharva Veda though... It is mentioned in
the Rg Veda and Yajurveda ...
The Manu Smriti says
'The man who offers a horse-sacrifice every day for a hundred years, and the man
who does not eat meat, the two of them reap the same fruit of good deeds.'
It is not a sanction for killing animals... how many animals are killed today fo
r taste?
But the dharmashastras forbid meat eating except in sacrifices and pitri karmas
...
31. 'The consumption of meat (is befitting) for sacrifices,' that is declared to
be a rule made by the Gods; but to persist (in using it) on other (occasions) i
s said to be a proceeding worthy of Rakshasas.
32. He who eats meat, when he honours the gods and manes, commits no sin, whethe
r he has bought it, or himself has killed (the animal), or has received it as a
present from others.
33. A twice-born man who knows the law, must not eat meat except in conformity w
ith the law; for if he has eaten it unlawfully, he will, unable to save himself,
be eaten after death by his (victims).
35. But a man who, being duly engaged (to officiate or to dine at a sacred rite)
, refuses to eat meat, becomes after death an animal during twenty-one existence
s.
38. As many hairs as the slain beast has, so often indeed will he who killed it
without a (lawful) reason skier a violent death in future births.
39. Svayambhu (the Self-existent) himself created animals for the sake of sacrif
ices; sacrifices (have been instituted) for the good of this whole (world); henc
e the slaughtering (of beasts) for sacrifices is not slaughtering (in the ordina
ry sense of the word).
40. Herbs, trees, cattle, birds, and (other) animals that have been destroyed fo
r sacrifices, receive (being reborn) higher existences.
------Do you see the difference, the meat is not eaten but given in fire ... only a pi
e sized amount is eaten ...as prasad...
It is not done for selfish purpose but for the good of the country by pleasing t
he gods...
Report Mar 13, 2015
Anonymous
Anonymous
I actually wanted to bring to your attention the practice of the queen mimicking
copulation with the dead horse. That seems absolutely tribal.
Report Mar 13, 2015
Prabhu Ksb
Prabhu Ksb
so what? the civilization is older than history...even today we follow rituals m
imicking something which happened in previous ages...

There was polyandry is ancient civilizations of the world... a woman marrying ma

ny men... we see that in draupadi in Mahabharata...
The holi festival...krishna dancing with gopis... there was a festival called ma
danotsava... festival in the honor of cupid... how can you say that all such thi
ngs are not superimposed on Krishna....
The Vedas are not scriptures of fear of punishment of gods ... you see god refer
red to as fearless one... which is not in any other scriptures... but then the o
ldest part of the Vedas have this touch of fear of the wrath of Indra and trembl
ing before his might...
There is infinite variety in the Vedas which are older than recorded history...
The Vedas, some say are 3000,5000, 8000 years or even older... you hear of beast
ality and necrophilia in ancient times in many civlizations...and the Vedas coul
d have picked it up like the rest of the events... clearly it is done as a ritua
l ... recreating something historical...
There are around 86000 verses in the Vedas ... and this you find in 4-5 verses?
and these 86000 verses form 1% of the Vedas...so 0.00006% of 1% of Vedas contain
this... so this is about 10 millionth part of the Vedas
So don't you think it as an over exaggeration of things? 1 sacrifice...part of 1
sacrifice in 400 sacrifices...
It is the nature of flies to look for sores... If a man wants to learn a new lan
guage , he first learns some curse words...
How does one forget the sublime teachings of the Vedas and take this point alone
which is 10 millionth part of the Vedas and say that Vedas have "many" obscene
rituals quoting one...
Does it mean that such things are right then? no ... if there is something bad t
hat the ancients have done, we should try to do better... they have done very ma
ny great things... we should honor them for that and try to do better ourselves.
..
Report Mar 13, 2015
Anonymous
Anonymous
Isn't sacrifice common to so many other old texts.
Report Mar 13, 2015
Prabhu Ksb
Prabhu Ksb
sacrifice does not mean animal... fruits and flowers, milk , rice, ghee are offe
red in sacrifices... animal sacrifice is one of the types of sacrifices
Report Mar 13, 2015
Rushabh Shah
Rushabh Shah
You really think the "self existent" created animals for slaughter or as you say
sacrifice ? Why would he create something to destroy it later ?
How can the King's action benefit the animal by the animal being born in a bette
r class ? Isn't karma based on individual action. Killing in no way is justifiab
le. And whether it's half of the book or 1/millionth part of a book. Ridiculous
is ridiculous. I'm not saying we shouldn't follow the vedas because a part of it
doesn't seem right but yes we still need a filter and blindly believing some 'l
earnt' sages will do no good.
Report Mar 16, 2015
Prabhu Ksb: I am talking about what the...
Vikram Bhaskaran

Vikram Bhaskaran, Hinduism, Advaita Philosophy follower

377 Views
Vedas do not contain anything obnoxious either rituals or mantras, the flaw is i
n the glasses of the reader wanting to read the scriptures, they are blurred wit
h false conceptions and notions. Once the blurred glasses are cleared the truth
will unfold clearly in its pristine form. It's up to to us whether we have the i
nquisitiness to clear our glasses or continue to read with blurred vision.
Written Mar 13, 2015 View Upvotes
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Kamal Nath Tiwari
Kamal Nath Tiwari, Vedic Religion
166 Views
First of all, start with the rituals, Most of the rituals, chants and verses pre
sent today come from Purans, not Vedas.
The knowledge of Vedas are very retricted nowadays.
Regarding the content, Vedas have the information which noone would find nowhere
in the current world.
Be it cosmology, psycology, medication, music, art, engineering, history or anyt
hing else. Little knowledge is very dangerous, and modern people are heading tha
t way only.
People reject to believe the contents of the scripture, just because they don't
know it and become ignorant to think that this was their shortcoming.
In acient times, Vedas was not passed in the written form, but in verbal form, t
hey were designed keeping in note the various frequencies and voice notes and gi
ving signals to the universe.
I have had the personal experience on this.
So called modern writers like MaxMuller once said, "An 8 year old Europen knows
more than the Vedas; Vedas are the sack of garbage.", world knows this.
But the same person before his death admitted that there is no match of Vedas an
ywhere, but it was published nowhere. This was the outcome of 'White Man's burde
n theory'.
I give you an instance of the depth of knowledge in the Vedas.
In Vedic cosmology, 16 dimesions are defined. If we compare it with
ce, 100 years back we knew 3, after Einstein we got 4 including. In
ovie Intesteller, you must have seen 5th dimensions, So if you see,
agree because they don't know it yet. Slowly they would evolve and

modern scien
the recent m
people don't
know.

Another instance is the the theory of evolution:

We know the Darvin's theory of evolution which is restricted and has already bee
n proved false, there is one Vedic theory of eveolution as well, which explain m
ost of the mysteries of inception of life in the universe, which I won't tell he
re, leaving it for you homework.
Written Mar 13, 2015 View Upvotes
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Stefan Pecho
Stefan Pecho, Veda in Slovak means the science as Veda in Sanskrit means the kno
wledge...
210 Views
There is no specialty in this context with Vedas and Indians. How many Judea-Chr
istians actually read the Old Testament? We can go from one tradition to other.
Whatever we say the Vedas are coming to us with profound knowledge.
Written Mar 16, 2015
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