Vedas and Upanishads

“The Vedas are the most precious gift the West has ever been indebted to the East.”

Vedas and Upanishads are some of the most important books in hindu philosophy, even if there are other traditions that follow other books. For the hindus, there are not better nor worse religions; everyone that has a belief is welcome and accepted and every religion is equally sacred for them. Even if you believe in nothing, you still believe in something: you believe that there is nothing! At the end what really is important is to have faith, not a specific belief in a god.

The Vedas are the oldest literature of Hinduism, with no certain time of generation. Hindus say it to be between 100 and 5000 BC. The origin and development of the Vedas was both from what is heard and wich is recorded as a memory. It is said that Rhishis (old sages) heard the teachings from the cosmic insight and then they narrated it to their disciple, which than chanted the teachings to their followers and so on, until it was written down so that everybody could benefit from the teaching. These teachings are given in the form of mantras and include political and administrative topics, diet, ethics, karma, morality, chants and mantras to the Gods.

The word VEDA means KNOWLEDGE and specifically the knowledge of life, of daily living. In a specific sense, Veda refers to the four massive collections known as Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda and Atharvaveda while in a more generic sense Veda can refer to the vedic literature. These book can be read but it is difficult to fully understand them without appropriate comments on the side and even in ancient times the Rishis used illustrations (Puranas -> Old Stories) to let the common man have a grasp of the teachings in the Vedas. 

Upavedas means “knowledge applied to use” and is used to designate the subjects of certain technical work and include archery (Dhanurveda), architecture (Shtapatyaveda), music and sacred dance (Gandharvaveda), medicine (Ayurveda).
The Vedanta is the philosophy dedicated to or inspired by the Vedas. There are in particular four great Vedic dictums known as the Vedanta Mahavakyas, centered on the discovery of the self as part of all creation.

• Rigveda. Rig means PRAISE. This Veda was composed by about 300 Rishis, with 10 chapters of Mantras and hymns dedicated to 79 divinities. The Upaveda of Rigveda is Ayurveda, divided in 1000 chapters. The Vedic dictum for Rigveda is "Consciousness is Brahman".
• Yajurveda. This book is about Yajnas or sacrifices and is related mostly to the concept of Karma (action). There are two divisions to this Veda called Krishna Yajurveda containing 8000 mantras and Shukla Yajurveda with 19000 mantras. "I am Brahman" is the Vedic dictum found in the book.
• Samaveda. It is mostly composed by hymns to the gods, sung by Rishi Narada. Are also included some Rigveda mantras as devotional songs. Only 13 chapters are available at the present, out of 1000 that were included in the book at the beginning. The Vedic dictum for this book is "Thou art that".
• Atharvaveda. It is a collection of hymns to the Gods and Mantras (6000 mantras are collected in this book), the latter giving information on how to destroy the enemies and methods to block demons and evil spirits using sorcery. In this Veda constituited by 760 chapters are also described administrative and political matters. The Vedic dictum  for Atharvaveda is: "This self is Brahman"

The Upanishads are the philosophical part of the Vedas. The word Upanishad means “to sit together to learn”; these book, using the mantras that in this case are basically stories that talk about the subject, deal with highly philosophical and rational thinking and understand of the supreme cause. It is claimed that their number is 2000; however at the present day only 108 are available and out of these 108 only 10 are considered the most important:

1. Isavasya Upanishad, is about the importance of God, Vidya and Avidya (wisdom and ignorance); also some discussion about material and immaterial things are given.
2. Kena Upanishad: all things happen because of the power of the Ultimate Reality. All the mantras in this book begin with OM.
3. Katha Upanishad, in this book the theme is spiritual education.
4. Prasna Upanishad: the main subject is dealing with question and their answer (…meditate on it…!)
5. Mundaka Upanishad, describes the way Lord Brahma teaches the Brahmavidya to his son Atarva.
6. Mandukya Upanishad: about the conditions of the mind.
7. Taittirya Upanishad: here are described the Koshas and Meditation.
8. Aitareya Upanishad, about the development of the inner spiritual power.
9. Brhadaranyaka Upanishad explain many subjects such as Karma, Brahma, Jnana, Mantra and so on.
10. Svetasvara Upanishad: Paramatman is the ultimate cause in this world.

The stories published in this blog from the book "Vedanta through stories" are meant to give a way for better understanding the philosophy of Veda and Upanishads and the hidden meanings in these books. All stories have a meaning and it is possible to use this meaning for meditation.