Vedic Life

General

• Vedas: Information From Answers.com
  "The Vedas form the main scripture in Hinduism. They are a large corpus of texts originating in Ancient India. The Vedas, regarded as shruti ("that which is heard") form part of an oral tradition in the form of an ancient teacher-disciple tradition."
  
  
• Vedas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  "As per Hindu tradition the Vedas were 'revealed' to the Rishis referred to in the texts, not composed or written by them. Even though many historians have tried to affix dates to the Vedas there is as yet no common consensus as there is for the scriptures of other religions. The Vedas are arguably the oldest surviving texts in the world."
  
  
• Prayer in Hinduism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  "....the highest sacred texts of the Hindus, the Vedas, are a large collection of mantras (sacred hymns of Hindus, later adopted by Buddhists) and prayer rituals extolling a single supreme force, Brahman, that is made manifest in several lower forms as the familiar gods of the Hindu pantheon. Hindus in India have numerous devotional movements. Stemming from the universal Soul Brahman prayer is focused on the personal forms of God, such Shiva, Vishnu, or Vishnu's avatars, Rama and Krishna."
  
  
• Being - the home you never left
  "This ever-fresh Presencing of Aliveness is already whole and complete. There is nowhere to get to someday. You are already always Here! Can you truly claim – right now- that you are not Being? Ponder: Whatever 'time' it is, That is Now. Wherever you go, you are Here."
  
  
• The Four Vedas
  "The four Vedas are the ancient most scriptures of India and are considered the pillars of Hinduism. Apart from the religious rituals and philosophic doctrines, they also contain many hidden secret instructions in coded format, which are carefully guarded secrets known only to a few. For example the verses of Sri Rudram (chapter 16 & chapter 18 of Yajur Veda) contain coded instructions for preparing various Ayurvedic medicines"
  
  
• Glossary for the Vahinis
  "This glossary contains Sanskrit words, people, places, and literature that appear in the fifteen Vahinis and Sandeha Nivarini, all written in Telugu by Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba and translated into English by N. Kasturi.
  If you would like a copy of this glossary on your own computer --for personal use only, not to be sold or commercially distributed in any way-- "
  
  
• Hindu Scriptures & Epics
  About.com: "The world's first scriptures, the oldest religious texts, the longest epic poems were all born in India. Here's your one-stop resource center on the Vedas, Upanishads, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata..."
  
  
• Scriptures
  Hindunet.org: "Hindu scriptures are classified as shruti, smriti, itihaas, etc.  Learn what this classification means."
  
  
• Bhagavad Gita
  Chinmaya Mission: "A mellifluous dialogue between a common man and the Cosmic Divine Being, Srimad Bhagavad Gita incorporated in the Mahabharata, an Indian epic poem, encapsulates the essence of all the ancient Vedas. Written some 5000 years ago by sage Vyasa, Srimad Bhagavad Gita is considered a Revelation consisting of the quintessence of cosmic law in the eternal words of the Divine Being himself."
  
  
• Art of Living - Boston, MA
  "Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is both visionary and practical. At the dawn of the new millennium, he calls for a return to the timeless values common to all religious traditions as a means to resolving conflict in the world today"
  
  
• Vedic Culture Book
  Edited by Stephen Knapp: "This new book shows the advantages of the Vedic paths of improvement and self-discovery that you can use in your own life to attain personal spiritual awareness, happiness, and fulfillment. It also provides a new view of what these avenues have to offer from some of the most prominent writers on Vedic culture in the West, who discovered how it has affected and benefited their own lives."
  
  
• The Hindu: Interpretation of the Rig Veda
  "RIG VEDIC SUKTAS — Asya Vamiya Suktam: A contemplative study by Swami Amritananda; Published by Sri Ramakrishna Math, 16, Ramakrishna Math Road, Mylapore, Chennai-600004.
  THE RIG VEDA has come to us in a single recension, although it had five in ancient times.
  It contains 10,450 verses, grouped into 1017 hymns (called Suktas). These are addressed to different deities, which are mostly, personifications of the powers of Nature."
  
  
• Hindu Mysticism: Analytical Table of Contents
  From Lecture 1: "THE Hindus possess a body of sacred compositions called the Vedas. Of these there are four collections. Two of them comprise original hymns. The contents of the others consist largely of poems derived from the former two. The collections of original hymns, known as the Rig Veda and the Atharva Veda, include, respectively, 1028 original hymns of about 10600 stanzas and 731 hymns of about 6000 stanzas. All of these were kept in memory and transmitted by recitation and close memorizing on the part of teachers and pupils in an unbroken chain of early traditions from a time when writing was probably not known."
  
  
• American Institute of Vedic Studies - Modern Science and Vedic Science
  David Frawey: "Real science consists of an objective pursuit of truth through observation and experimentation. It occurs apart from any beliefs or preconceptions about what it is going to find. It is based upon reason and direct perception, in which the reality is allowed to reveal itself to the unbiased eye."
  
  
• The Rig Veda - Selections thereof with Vedic History Resources
  "Rig Veda is the most ancient of Hindu scripture, which was first translated into European languages in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. At this time, it was the contention of the expanding scientific, philosophical and religious doctrines of western European culture, that these writings simply could not be more ancient than the classical roots of European civilisation. Whereas this hypothesis was strongly held by the expanding western educational regime, in recent times there has been cause to re-examine its claims."
  
  
• Favorite Sanskrit Books and Tapes
  Collection of books and audio tapes containing chants from the Vedas
  
  
• The Vedas of Hinduism - Hyms from all 4 Vedas
  " The Vedas are the most sacred scriptures of Hinduism. According to tradition, when God creates the worlds, He reveals the Vedas for the welfare of the worlds and when He ends the creation, He takes them back again. Some people say that all human knowledge is available in the Vedas in symbolic form and that the knowledge of all our discoveries and inventions is already contained in the Vedas. It is true that the Vedas are not mere books of some magical chants. They are loaded with spiritual knowledge, which reveals itself to the degree we are spiritually advanced."
  
  
• Rudram transliteration
  "Sri Rudram is one of the most sacred and powerful mantra found in Krishna Yajurveda. Those who wants to go through the meaning, may please read Sanskrit phrases and English transliteration here."
  
  
• Welcome to Hari's Portal - Dedicated to the Sage of Kanchi
  "This personal portal contains a few articles of Sri Maha Perival, translations of prime vedic scriptures, some rare photographs and few interesting links to other sites in the Internet about Hindu Religion and Vedas"
  
  
• Vedas - ISKCON
  ISKCON Site with a lot of information about Vedas & Vaishnavism.
  
  
• Vedas - hindunet.org
  "The Vedas are the ancient scriptures or revelation (Shruti) of the Hindu teachings. They manifest the Divine Word in human speech. They reflect into human language the language of the Gods, the Divine powers that have created us and which rule over us."
  
  
• Vedas and Upanishads by Sanderson Beck
  Site has information on the four Vedas. Also a chapter on Harappan Civlization. Views, especially regarding the 'age' of the Vedas and interpretation of Harappan Civlization may be open to debate.
  
  
• Sacred-Texts: Hinduism
  "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."
  
  
• Sanskrit.org
  "Hinduism and Sanskrit are inseparably related. The roots of Hinduism can be traced to the dawn of Vedic civilization. From its inception, Vedic thought has been expressed through the medium of the Sanskrit language. Sanskrit, therefore, forms the basis of Hindu civilization."
  
  
• Welcome to No.# 1 website dedicated to God Shiva
  "The most revered ancient temple of more than 1200 years old Sri Jyothi Mahalingaswamy Temple in Thiruvidaimaruthur, Tanjore District, India has many features and the awe-inspiring temple dedicated to Lord Shiva underlines the sheer dedication and brilliant temple planning.  Our spiritual ecstasy is enhanced, positive energy fully re-charged after visiting this stupendous abode."
  
  
• Vedic Devata, devas, North Indian Classical Music
  "One has only to consult the Harvard Dictionary of Music to realize the ethnomusicology of Vedic India has now become among the most widely acclaimed and respected by scholars of world music as well as those of the Western Classical tradition."
  
  
• The Rules for the Vedic Writings and Recitations
  "According to region, some of the Vedic recitals showed variations. The same verses in the Four Vedas were recited in four different ways as some alphabets or accents changed. The pronunciations for each of the prayers and texts for rituals are considered very important to gain full benefit of the rituals. A generalized standard method of recitation and pronunciation of Vedic texts were derived from the ancient times. Vedic prayers were generally recited in the same way over generations, from teacher to students following certain basic rules of pronunciations and grammar. These rules are given in the Vedas themselves and in certain texts referred to as Vedangas. These are the Six 'Angas' or explanatory limbs to Vedas. Siksha and Vyakarna of Panini, Chhandas of Pingalacharya and Niruktha of Yaska are the Vedangas that deal with Vedic recitation, phonetics and grammar. Jyothisha of Garga and Kalpa Suthras explain rules of Astrology and Rituals."
  
  
• Veda is ultimate source of knowledge: UN
  "The tradition of Vedic chanting of India has been declared a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by Unesco for being "the ultimate source of knowledge and one of the world's oldest surviving cultural traditions.
  In a meeting held between director-general Koichiro Matsuura and president Jaun Goytisolo at Unesco headquarters in Paris on November 8, Unesco declared, "Although Vedic texts were recorded in writing 15 centuries ago, their principal means of transmission remains oral. The outstanding value lies not only in the rich content of its oral literature but also in the unique and ingenious techniques employed by the Brahmin priests in preserving the texts intact over three and half millennia. The complex recitation technique, requiring rigorous training from childhood, is based on a specific pronunciation of each letter and specific speech combinations to ensure that the sound of each word remains unchanged."
  
  
• Parankushachar Institute of Vedic Studies
  "Veda manthrAs are very important. They are the root of the tree of DharmA . These manthrAs have been classified under three heads : Rg , Yajus and Saama.
  Atharva VedA has its own place for the approach of the Brahman thru tantrA and other rituals . Rg vedam thru prayer and intellectual pursuits; Yajur Vedam thru invocation of Agni for transporting the message enshrined in hymns to the Sureme . Saama Vedam thru rendering of those hyms of Rg and Yajur vedams in music or singing ."
  
  
• List of masterpieces of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity
  UNESCO: "The Vedas comprise a vast corpus of Sanskrit poetry, philosophical dialogue, myth, and ritual incantations developed and composed in India by the Aryans over 3,500 years ago. Regarded by Hindus as the primary source of knowledge and the sacred foundation of their religion, the Vedas embody one of the world’s oldest surviving cultural traditions. The term “Veda” derives from the Sanskrit word vid meaning “knowledge”. The Vedic heritage embraces a multitude of texts and interpretations collected in four Vedas, commonly referred to as “books of knowledge” even though they have been transmitted orally. The Rig Veda is an anthology of sacred hymns; the Sama Veda features musical arrangements of hymns from the Rig Veda and other sources; the Yajur Veda abounds in prayers and sacrificial formulae used by priests; and the Atharna Veda includes incantations and spells. The Vedas also provide an extraordinary historical panorama of Hinduism and offer insight into the early development of several fundamental artistic scientific and philosophical notions, such as the concept of zero."
  
  
• Sikshavalli - Translation
  "Devas place obstacles in men's way to Brahmavidya - the mantra for removal of such obstacles is the Shanti Mantra. Devas are put to much pain when men realise the identity of the self and Brahman and it is quite contrary to the wishes of the Devas that men should acquire Brahmavidya, so Devas put obstacles in the way of men who wish to acquire Brahmavidya. The great sage Pathanjali has defined a few of the Obstacles: "disease, dullness, doubt, carelessness, sloth, worldly-mindedness, misconception, missing the point and unsteadiness are the causes of the mind's distraction and they are the obstacles."
  
  
• Vedic Society
  "Do you sometimes get frustrated at the environmental, atmospheric and electromagnetic pollution that is seemingly growing endlessly in this 'modern' age. Did you know that Agnihotra is an ancient scientific technology of atmospheric cleansing that has been around for thousands of years. Simply burning dried dung of cow, rice and ghee in a very specially designed copper pyramid at exact moments of sunrise and sunset with special sound vibrations (mantras) is called Agnihotra. Vedic Society is helping to heal our planet by promoting awareness and availability of Agnihotra in each and every nation around the world. Agnihotra heals individuals, families and it heals the environment around us so we all may be balanced, healed and nourished. Visit http://www.agnihotradirect.com and discover more."
  
  
• Vedanta Shastras Library » Downloads
  "The three basic texts of Vedanta are the Upanishads, the Bhagavad-Gita and the Brahma-Sutra. Together they are referred to as the Prasthana-traya, triple canon of Vedanta. The Upanishads constitute the revealed texts (sruti-prasthana); they mark the summits of the Veda which is Sruti (the heard, the revealed). They are the pristine springs of Vedantic metaphysics; Vedanta is the name given to them because they are the end (aim as well as concluding parts) of the Veda (Veda + anta). The Bhagavad-Gita comes next only to the Upanishads. It is given a status which is almost equal to that of the Upanishads."