Anonymous: Pranam Guruji. I want to read Vedas, specifically Rigvedas. I completed my Graduation and Post graduation and currently pursuing Law from Delhi University. My prime question is – can I take a diksha for this spiritual purpose from the Guruji at Vedmandir ashram?
Swami Ram Swarup: Yes, please you may come here anytime. My blessings to you.
Anonymous: Question about a matter that is against Vedas.
Swami Ram Swarup: The answer of your question, sorry cannot be given publicly. You are always welcome here then I can brief you happily in detail. However, I, based on Vedas state that any matter if it is against the Vedas that can never be accepted as true. My blessings to you.
Names of God
In the Vedas there is only one God but has so many names according to His qualities. For example His name is OM which means the God is the saviour of all. His name is SURYA (sun) i.e., sun has light but sun takes light from God because God has the supreme and Divine light of His own. His name is Chandrma (moon). Moon gives peace, calm, cold and charming light so the name of God is also Chandrma (moon) because God gives peace, calm etc., to those who worship etc., etc. we all people do not worship thirty three Goddesses as briefed above. Shiva means Kalyan i.e., happiness, welfare, good fortune and benediction etc., i.e., He who does welfare to human beings, He is Shiva and He is only one Almighty God said above. Vishnu means He who is everywhere and He is only one Almighty God.
Rig-Veda mantra 1/164/46 says,” EKAM SADRUPA VIPRAH BAHUDHA VADANTI,” i.e., EKAM SATAM means is one i.e., God is one but VIPRAH = Rishis, Munis who were/are learned of Vedas, BAHUDHA VADANTI utter so many names of God mentioned in Vedas like AGNIM YAMAM MATRISHVANAM AAHUHU meaning-the names of God are Agni, Yam, Matrishva and AAHUHU means “says”. In Yajurveda mantra 32/1 the names of God stated are AGNI, ADITYA, VAAYU, CHANDRMA, SHUKRAM, BRAHM, AAPAH, and PRAJAPATIHI ETC, ETC, ETC. I would explain the meaning of above all the names of God in brief due to shortage of time and space.
AGNI= agrini i.e., at the top or who comes first or who was before the creation and according to the said qualities, here the meaning of Agni pertains to God i.e., God is eternal and therefore exists always before the creation etc. that is why Rigveda mantra 1/1/1 says AGNIM Eedey – in the said mantra the meaning of Agni is God according to the qualities and situation. Meaning of Eedey is desire. Therefore the meaning of Agnim Eedey is , “I am desirous of God. Similarly YAM means controller of universe, Matrishva means air i.e., like the air God gives life to human beings. Aditya means which can not be broken into pieces, Chandrma means like moon God gives calm/peace, Shukram means Almighty, Brahma means the superior/the biggest/the greatest etc., in the universe, Aapah means omnipresent, Prajapatihi means one who nurses the universe. So all the said meanings have the qualities of God and hence the name of God in the
Vedas, but these are always uttered by Rishis Munis, who are learned of Vedas, as mentioned in Rig-Veda mantra quoted above. Therefore only Rishis Munis who are learned of Vedas, utter or tell the holy name of God mentioned in Vedas and those who do not know Vedas can never utter the above holy names of God. But the said holy names, on the other hand, are even of surprising nature to them.
One thing more, the holy names of God in the Vedas are according to the nature, knowledge and deeds (God creates, nurses, destroys and controls the universe etc.) of Almighty God. Therefore those names are eternal and countless. So I am not able to mention here infinite names of Almighty God being beyond imagination, beyond calculation and beyond description etc., and we have to worship the said Almighty God whose description is in four Vedas, whose study has mostly been made to be stopped by the present saints who are against the Vedas and speak only charming stories etc., and never tell about Vedas. Whereas the description of Vedas is in Geeta, Ramayana,
six shastras, Upnishads and all ancient holy books. The reason why the present (most of them) saints do not quote Vedas is that they do not study the Vedas, do not do Yajyen and do not obey Ashtang Yoga Philosophy mentioned in Vedas which was also adopted by Shri Ram, Shri Krishna, Mata Sita, King Harishchandra, king Dashrath and their subjects/ public etc. Therefore we must be aware of false prophets.
God is formless
Being formless there is no need of statue or temple of God according to Vedas. As a matter of fact, you, I or every human being, lives in a body. Body is separate, we are called souls. Vedas say soul has no form even. Then also we know each other. For example even if you have not seen the photograph of King Akbar then, you can know Akbar by means of the study of his qualities. So is the case with the God. If an aspirant really goes to his Guru and listens Vedas like Shri Ram, and ancient kings and their public then he will be able to know hundred percent about formless God. Then comes realization for which Vedas (especially Samveda) says that he who performs Yajyen, does jaap (according to Vedas) and practises Ashtang Yoga Philosophy while remaining in family like Shri Ram etc., he sure realizes ,being eternal law.
If we will meditate concentrating outside our body which is also against Vedas/Ashtang Yoga Philosophy, then our attention will always naturally remain outside i.e., attached with outer world i.e., decoration/music/dances etc. In that case subject matter of God will be over. It will be converted into spending fun, doing dances and singing attractive songs by ladies and gents, which is totally against Vedas. Thus the chapter of praising God, True Acharya, Rishi-Munis, performing Yajyen, practice of Ashtang Yoga, eternal knowledge of Vedas etc., will be over.
It is also baseless to say that study of Vedas and practice of yoga philosophy is difficult. It is self made story because Vedas are also called Shruti i.e., Vedas are to be listened first and not to be studied. So to listen to the Vedas, a learned Acharya is needed. The Acharya will explain the Ved mantras in the Yajyen in your own language i.e., in English or Urdu etc., and for an aspirant to do asan, pranayaam, meditation etc., is also not difficult. It is all difficult for those human beings, including present false prophets, (who are against the Vedas), who are lazy, can’t awake early in the morning to listen Vedas and fail to do practice of yoga philosophy. Those people are always after money, materialistic articles and pomp and show etc.
Vedas are not written or spoken by God. This knowledge is emanated from God and is originated in the heart of four Rishis as stated above. God is Almighty i.e., He has all powers. So He needs no assistance to do deeds of universe. In human body alive soul resides and soul is dependent, soul requires mouth to speak, eye to see, hand to write etc., etc. but not God. From His power God originates the knowledge of Vedas in the rishis without writing, or speaking etc. Vedas’ knowledge is divine. The fundamental of the Vedas is this that it was not written or spoken. The knowledge by the power of God was originated about one Arab 96 crore, 8 lakh and 53,111 years ago. Then first time the four rishis of nonsexual creation started pronunciation of the mantras by the power of God. God wanted them to know word meanings and sense of the mantras and therefore the rishis knew all. Then first time the four rishis started pronunciation of the mantras. They taught the mantras to other ignorant people. Then more rishis were produced who knew the Vedas by heart by listening only. There was no paper, ink or pen there. The Vedas were being learnt orally and traditionally this process is yet in force. But mostly not by heart but taking help of the printed book. So printed books are not called Vedas but these are called samhita.
Samhita means the collection of Ved mantras. Therefore Present printed books cannot be considered as Vedas and will never be in future, but samhita. Kapil Muni throws light on this point in his Sankhya Shastra sutra 5/48 that when a rishi does tapsya in the shape of Yajyen, study of Vedas, practice of Ashtang Yoga then the Ved mantras still (now also) originate in heart of the Rishi and the rishi pronounces the mantras. Those mantras are called Vedas, which emanate from God. So Vedas must first be listened (study) from alive Acharya (Guru who knows Vedas). Then only Samhita (books of Vedas) can help.
Vedas- The Storehouse of Knowledge, Deeds and Worship”
In Samveda mantra 7, two kinds of languages are stated.
First “Ittha” and second “Ittra”. Ittha is the divine Sanskrit language which emanates direct from God in the shape of four Vedas to preach the human beings. (Yajurveda Mantra 31/7 refers). Naturally, the Ved Mantras are not in worldly language but in divine Sanskrit language. Ittha is preached at the time of every creation.
So when we will talk about the present creation i.e., about more than 1 Arab, 96 crores, 8 lakhs, 53,111 years ago, when this earth came into existence, the knowledge of Vedas emanated from God as usual. As God is immortal so the said language is immortal too. It is not out of place to mention here that immortal power can
only generate immortal language. Keeping the said statement in mind it is very clear that Vedas have not been written by any Rishi-Muni, saint, men or women etc. Another language is called “Ittra language”, made by human beings. The second one is not immortal because it is generated from the mind of human being and the mind being made of Prakriti is destructible and not immortal. It concludes that whenever we want to know the truth, we will have to tally it with the Vedas. If any kind of material, deeds, worship, action is to be checked as to whether it is true or false, it is to be verified from Vedas. If it is mentioned in Vedas as true then it is true otherwise
it will have to be declared false. (Yog Shastra sutra 1/7 and Samkhya Shastra 1/52 refer). This is fundamental law so cannot be changed. Now we discuss about the form of Almighty God from Vedas. Yajurveda Mantra 31/18 says- God is form of light, the light which is the source of light and energy to sun, moon and to whole of the world i.e., God is Himself the perennial source of light. He is enlightened through His own light. He gives the light to all but He Himself never takes light from any source. When anyone (Yogi), through the power of Ashtang Yoga, realizes the light within his soul, he overcomes the death and gets final liberation. It means we must worship the God who is formless and Himself a light. The idea of Rigveda Mantra 10/121/1 and Yajurveda mantra 40/8 is that all the powers rest in God, i.e., why He is called Almighty. He is light. God was before the creation i.e., He was in past, is in present and will remain in future unchanged after destruction of this earth/world. He is the only matter who creates, nurses and destroys the universe that is why Yajurveda Mantra 27/36 also states that the God is one and equivalent to this God, no other God was either born or will ever be born. We must worship the said God only. God gives birth to everybody but He never takes birth. Yajurveda Mantra 31/3 says that His (God’s) greatness is beyond description. We can only say that God is so great that this creation is nothing before the greatness of Almighty God. Now we must discuss as to how many Gods are there to be worshipped. In this connection, all four Vedas, six shastras and holy books of all religions clarify that there is only one God, who was present before creation, He is present now and will remain present after destruction of this world, being immortal.
Atharvaveda Mantra 13/4/16 to 21 say that God is neither two nor three, four, five, six, seven, eight or nine. There is only one God. So we must only worship, one God and no other. In this connection, the guidance from a proper spiritual master (Acharya, guru who is
learned of Vedas) is a must. The form of God is light which is within each human being. God is always away from birth, death, or to face the result of any deeds etc., (Yog shastra sutra 1/24 refers). He is the only source of merriment. He whose several names have been mentioned in Vedas. He is the only God described in Vedas. For example, Vishnu. Vishnu word occurs in Vedas and it means omnipresent God. Traditionally Vedas were being learnt and recited orally since Satyug by the grace of our ancient Rishi- Munis. Afterwards, about more than 5,300 years ago Maharishi Vyas jee wrote the Vedas on Bhoj patra. Then few historic events which took place in Dwapur Yug were compiled in the form of Mahabharata epic by Vyas Muni jee. Mahabharata originally has 10,000 shlokas written in Sanskrit, which are true and give Vedas’ knowledge too. Presently, Mahabharata contains 1 lakh 20,000 shlokas out of which 10,000 shlokas are only true. That is why untrue and impossible stories are being heard like birth from fire (agnikund). Vedas do not accept it. Vedas do not contain any historic event. It is a knowledge which emanates direct from God. So naturally the Vedas do not tell about any individual’s name, place etc. After destruction of the previous creation, there remains nothing in the world. There was no sun, moon, human-being, day and night, death and birth, space etc.(Rigveda mandal 10 sukta 129 refers). So at the beginning of present creation, no event could take place in the absence of living-beings and other matters etc. Then at a fixed time power of Almighty God starts functioning in prakriti and the creation starts. Thus, the world comes into existence. It was non-sexual creation of all living-beings. And naturally, they were not learned.
At this juncture, question arises, who was present there to educate the human-beings as without giving knowledge to men or women, no one can become wise. God is merciful and therefore as usual He showers His eternal mercy in the shape of four Vedas on all the human-beings to educate them well. The said knowledge of Vedas emanates from God and is originated in the heart of four Rishis of non-sexual creation, who then become wise. Thereafter, the Rishis
shower the knowledge of Vedas to aspirants. So the first Guru of our ancient Rishis is God(Yog shastra sutra 1/26 refers). Thereafter only Rishis have been our Guru to give Vedic knowledge not only to worship God, but to educate people about all kinds of science and pious deeds. Hence, as said above Vedas are not a story. Story describes an event or happening and will be destroyed at the time of final destruction of the world. But God and His knowledge of Vedas being immortal, will ever remain, surpassing destruction. And this is the true knowledge. So we must worship only Almighty God through Yajyen, reciting the holy name given by a guru (learned Acharya of Vedas). Vedas state to discharge family duties besides worshipping God. We must always leave sins and accept the truth but to realize truth, one will have to listen the Vedas first. It is unfortunate that often some people falsely state that Vedas are difficult. In this connection, please remember that when a child first time goes to school or first time starts studying, is the study easy for him? Or is to get B.Sc., M.Sc., PhD., degrees or to be a doctor, scientist or engineer easy? Yes, the same are very difficult for those who are lazy and is quite easy for those who are hard workers. So when a student listens carefully and works hard then no topic remains difficult for him. So are the Vedas. You have to listen the Vedas and not read them. In the matter of Vedas, these are to be listened traditionally and not to be read. So listening is not difficult. One has to seek his Acharya who is learned of Vedas, to listen the Vedas from him.
Listening of Vedas, is an order direct from God. And to oversight the same may be the order of man.
We have to decide either to obey God to become learned or to obey man to remain ignorant.
