Mystical Wonders Discussion Group

d_redant · Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 4:27 am Post subject: The Vedas: God’s Revelation

The Vedas: God’s Revelation
By Dr Joshua David Stone

The Hindus have received their religion as a direct revelation from God. There is no human author as in most of the other religions, because no human wrote the Vedas. His Holiness, the Lord Sai Baba, has said that the Vedas came as a direct result of the hearing of the divine sounds of God by the rishis (seers and prophets of ancient India).

The Vedas are the scriptures where this divine knowledge was written down. The term Veda comes from the root word "to know". When it is applied to scripture it means "Book of Knowledge." The Vedas and the Hindu religion is by far the oldest of all the major religions.

The Vedas are the earliest testaments of the victory of man over himself in discovering the underlying unity of all creation. Sai Baba has called the Vedas "the Breath of God". The Vedas have no describable origin for, in truth, they are timeless.

They lead the seeker on the path to the realm of eternal bliss where no birth or death exists. The Vedas are not the result of studying, reading, or writing books by humans. The Vedas are a direct revelation of Brahma (God). The Vedas have also been referred to as "Sabda Brahma" (the sound of the Universal Absolute).

The Vedas are the philosopher’s stone that turns all metals into gold, all students into aspirants and all aspirants into sages. They are to be studied reverently and practiced in one’s daily life. The Vedas are the embodiments of truth. Recitation of the Vedas purifies the environment and strengthens the will to be true. Sai Baba says that every syllable of the Vedas is a name of God. and it is the mother of all scripture.

The Vedas are not just for the people of India, but are for all the people of the earth. The Vedas enable man to get a vision of the Lord. The Vedas are eternal messages from God caught by developed consciousness in the silence of meditation.

The Vedas are divided into four great books: the Rig-Veda, the Yajur-Veda, the Sama-Veda, and the Athaarva-Veda. Each Veda consists of four parts: the Mantra-Samhitas or hymns, the Brahmanas or explanations of mantras, or rituals, the Aranyakas, and the Upanishads. The four subdivisions of the Vedas is symbolic of the four stages in a person’s life.

The essence of the Vedas is that which is present everywhere and manifests itself under all circumstances as the "Eternal Self". This self lives in all people, animals, plants, minerals, and objects in the world. There is nothing but the Self. We are here to realize our identity as the Self and serve the Self in all beings and things.

We are here to learn to discriminate and identify with that which is permanent not impermanent. We are here to recognize that God is one, not two. Immortality or liberation can only be won through renunciation of the material world. We must learn to live in the world but not of the world. This can only be achieved through the development of non attachment and self control and mastery over one’s thoughts, feelings, emotions, physical body, sexuality, senses, and over identification with physical vision or appearances. The essence of the Vedas is that of "love", and that all men are brothers.

The philosophy of the Vedas is called "Vedantha". Vedantha means the final product of the fund of knowledge which leads to liberation from the wheel of rebirth. Vedantha teaches that the mind leads man, either into the prison of petty desire or the vastness of spiritual realization. Vedantha is wisdom that leads to the release from the bondage of the material world. It is based on the knowledge of the "Self".

It is through right living, balanced living, and unconditional love that we achieve the bliss of God realization. The wisdom of the Vedas and/or Vedantha is the most supreme gain that can be earned in life, for it leads to realizing the "Self. Vedantha is merging with the OM, which leads to Veda (knowledge) - antha (end). Vedantha, hence, leads to the end of knowledge which is liberation, self realization, and immortality!!!

The Upanishads
The "Upanishads" are the most important section of the Vedas. They contain the essence or the knowledge and essence of the Vedas. Few books on planet earth are as soul inspiring and as inspirational. The Upanishads are the products of the highest wisdom, and supreme divine knowledge. The Upanishads give a detailed description on the nature of the Eternal Self and Atman. It teaches the methods of how to attain Brahman (God).

The Upanishads are eternal and come directly from Brahman (God). They serve as a means of freedom from earthly bondage. Knowledge of the Upanishads allows one to attain self realization and merge with Brahman. It is this self realization alone that can get rid of ignorance, and help to restore immortality, eternal peace, and bliss.

Only knowledge of Brahman can remove sorrows, illusion and pain. The Upanishads are called Vedanta. It is only through discrimination, detachment, self control, and a deep yearning for liberation, that Brahman and self realization can be obtained. The term Upanishad, actually means secret teachings, or secret doctrine.

Instead of trying to explain the Upanishads myself, I have researched through the varied "Upanishads" in the different sections of the Vedas and chosen some of my favorite stanzas for your supreme enjoyment and spiritual edification.

The translation for these quotations from a book called "The Upanishads" by Eknath Easwaran. This is a book I would highly recommend if you are desirous of doing more spiritual study in this area.

Quotations
Everything is loved not for its own sake, but because the Self lives in it.

This Self has to be realized. Hear about this Self and meditate upon Him. When you hear about the Self, meditate upon the Self, and finally realize the Self, you come to understand everything in life.

Separateness arises from identifying the Self with the body, which is made up of elements; When this physical identification dissolves, there can be no more separate Self.

As a great fish swims between the banks of a river as it likes, so does the sinning self move between the states of dreaming and waking.

The Self is free from desire, free from evil, and free from fear.

The Self is, indeed, Brahman, but through ignorance people identify it with intellect, mind, senses, passions, and the elements of earth, air, fire, water, and space. This is why the Self is said to consist of this and that, and appears to be everything.

As a person acts, so he becomes in life. Those who do good become good. Those who do harm become bad. Good deeds make one pure. Bad deeds make one impure. So we are said to be what our desire is, so is our will. As our will is, so are our acts. As we act so do we become.

We live in accordance with our deep, driving desire. It is this desire at the time of death that determines what our next life is to be. We will come back to earth to work out the satisfaction of that desire.

But not those who are free from desire. They are free because all their desires have found fulfillment in the Self. They do not die like the others; bur realizing Brahman, they merge in Brahman.

Those who realize the Self enter into the peace that brings complete self control and perfect patience. They see themselves in everyone and everyone in themselves.

The fourth is the superconscious state called Turiya, neither inward nor outward, beyond the senses and the intellect, in which there is none other than the Lord. He is the supreme goal of life. He is infinite peace and love, realize Him!

Turiya is represented by AUM.

Realize the self, the shining goal of life! If you do not, there is only darkness. See the Self in all, and go beyond death.

Well have you renounced these passing pleasures so dear to the senses, and turned your back on the way of the world which makes mankind forget the goal of life. Far apart are wisdom and ignorance. The first leads one to self realization; the second makes one more and more estranged from his real Self.

It is but few who hear about the self. Fewer still dedicate their lives to its realization. Wonderful is the one who speaks about the Self. Rare are they who make it the supreme goal of their lives.

Blessed are they who, through an illumined teacher, attain to Self realization. The truth of the Self cannot come through one who has not realized that he is the Self. The intellect cannot reveal the Self, beyond its duality of subject and object. They, who see themselves in all and all in them help others through spiritual osmosis to realize the Self, themselves.

The wise realizing through meditation the timeless self, beyond all perception, hidden in the cave of the heart, leave pain and pleasure far behind. Those who know they are neither body nor mind but the immortal Self, the Divine Principle of existence, find the source of all joy and live in joy abiding.

I will give you the word all the scriptures glorify, all spiritual disciplines express, to attain which aspirants lead a life of sense mastery. It is OM. This symbol of the Godhead is the highest. Realizing it, one finds complete fulfillment of all one’s longings. It is of the greatest support to all seekers. Those whose hearts OM reverberates unceasingly are indeed blessed and deeply loved as one who is the Self.

Hidden in the heart of every creature exists the Self, subtler than the subtlest, greater than the greatest. They go beyond sorrow who extinguish their self will and behold the glory of the Self through the grace of the Lord of Love.

The Self cannot be known by anyone who desists not from unrighteous ways, controls not his senses, stills not his mind, and practices not meditation.

The senses derive from objects of sense perception, sense objects from mind, mind from intellect, and intellect from ego, ego from undifferentiated consciousness, and consciousness from Brahman. Brahman is the first cause and last refuge. Brahman, the hidden Self in everyone, does not shine forth. He is revealed only to those who keep their mind one pointed on the Lord of Love (Self) and thus develop a superconscious manner of knowing. Meditation enables them to go deeper and deeper into consciousness, from the world of words to the world of thoughts, then beyond thoughts to wisdom in the Self.

If one fails to realize Brahman in this life before the physical sheath is shed, he must again put on a body in the world of embodied creatures.

There are two selves, the separate ego and the indivisible Atman. When one rises above I and me and mine, the Atman is revealed as one’s real Self. When all desires that surge in the heart are renounced, the mortal becomes immortal.

As long as we think we are the ego, we feel attached and fall into sorrow. But realize that you are the Self, the Lord of Life, and you will be freed from sorrow. When you realize that you are the Self, Supreme Source of Light, Supreme Source of Love you transcend duality of life and enter into the unitive state.

Those who dwell on and long for sense pleasure are born in a world of separateness. But let them realize they are the Self and all separateness will fall away. Not through discourse, not through the intellect. Not even through study of the scriptures can the Self be realized. The Self reveals Himself to the one who longs for the Self. Those who long for the Self with all their heart are chosen by the Self as His own.

Not by the weak, not by the un-earnest, not by those who practice wrong disciplines can the Self be realized. The Self reveals Himself as the Lord of Love to the one who practices right disciplines.

Before the world was created, the Self alone existed. Nothing whatever stirred. Then the Self thought; Let me create the world. He brought forth all the worlds out of Himself.

Practice right conduct, learning and teaching. Be truthful always, learning and teaching. Master the passions, learning and teaching. Control the senses, learning and teaching. Strive for peace always, learning and teaching. Rouse the Kundalini, learning and teaching. Serve humanity, learning and teaching. Beget progeny, learning and teaching. Be truthful always, master the passions, learning and teaching. Learning and teaching are necessary for spiritual progress.

This is the essence of essences, the highest, the eighth rung, venerated above all that human beings hold holy. Om is the Self of all.

The universe comes forth from Brahman and will return to Brahman. Verily, all is Brahman. A person is what his deep desire is. It is our deepest desire in this life that shapes the life to come. So let us direct our deepest desires to realize the Self.

The Self is sure, free from decay and death, free from hunger and thirst, and free from sorrow. The Self desires nothing that is not good, wills nothing that is not good. Seek and realize the Self! Those who seek and realize the Self fulfill all their desires and attain the goal supreme.

It is truth the body is perishable, but within it dwells the imperishable Self. This body is subject to pleasure and pain. No one who identifies with the body can escape from pleasure and pain, but those who know they are not the body pass beyond pleasure and pain to live in abiding joy.

The world is the wheel of God, turning round and round with all living creatures upon its rim. The world is the river of God, flowing from Him and flowing back to Him. On this ever revolving wheel of being the individual Self goes round and round through life after life, believing itself to be a separate creature, until it sees its identity with the Lord of Love and attains immortality in the indivisible whole.

The Lord of Love holds in His hand the world, composed of the changing and the changeless. The manifest and the unmanifest. The separate self, not yet aware of the Lord, goes after pleasure, only to become bound more and more. When it sees the Lord, there comes an end to its bondage.

All is change in the world of the senses, but changeless is the Supreme Lord of Love. Meditate on Him, be absorbed in Him, wake up from the dream of separateness.

Dedicate yourself to the Lord of Life, who is the cause of the cosmos. He will remove the cause of all your suffering and free you from the bondage of karma.

Those who attain the supreme goal of life, realizing the Self and passing beyond all sorrow, shine bright as a mirror which has been cleansed of dust.

In the supreme climax of Samadhi they realize the presence of the Lord within their heart. Freed from impurities they pass forever beyond birth and death.

Not female, male, nor neuter is the Self. As is the body, so is the gender. The Self takes on a body, with desires, attachments, and delusions. The Self is born again and again in new bodies to work out the karma of former lives.

Hard to reach is the supreme goal of life, hard to describe and hard to abide in. They alone attain Samadhi who have mastered their senses and are free from anger, free from self-will and free from likes and dislikes, without selfish bonds to people and things.

Brahman cannot be realized by those who are subject to greed, fear, and anger. Brahman cannot be realized by those who are subject to the pride of name and fame or to the vanity of scholarship. Brahman cannot be realized by those who are enmeshed in life’s duality.

The mind may be said to be of two kinds, pure and impure. Driven by the senses it becomes impure, but with the senses under control, the mind becomes pure.

It is the mind that frees us or enslaves. Driven by the senses we become bound. master of the senses become free. Those who seek freedom must master their senses.

When the mind is detached from the senses one reaches the summit of consciousness. mastery of the mind leads to wisdom. Practice meditation. Stop all vain talk. the highest state is beyond reach of thought, for it lies beyond all duality.

Keep repeating the ancient mantram OM until it reverts in your heart.

He faces heat and cold, pleasure and pain, honor and dishonor with equal calm. He is not affected by pride, jealousy, status, joy or sorrow, greed, anger or infatuation, excitement, egoism, or other gods, for he knows he is neither body nor mind.

The aspirant who is seeking the Lord must free himself from selfish attachments to people, money, and possessions. When his mind sheds every selfish desire, he becomes free from the duality of pleasure and pain and rules his senses. no more is he capable of ill will. No more is he subject to elation, for his senses come to rest in the Self. Entering into the intuitive state he attains the goal of evolution. Truly he attains the goal of evolution.

Summation
The profundity of the Upanishads can clearly be seen. In the next two chapters I will attempt to give you an even more complete understanding of the entire Vedas, by sharing with you what also might be considered to be the cream of the Vedas, which is the Bhagavad Gita, and the teachings of Sri Bhagavan Krishna (Lord Maitreya).

Then for your continued enjoyment, a complete overview of the essential teachings of Sri Sathya Sai Baba, who is the incarnation of Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu Himself, living in one physical body. The combination of these three chapters will put firmly on the path of understanding this most glorious revelation of God known as the "Vedas".

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