Hinduism stands apart
from all the other religions of the world in various ways. One of the most
distinct feature is that here there is no single person who is attributed
to be its father. It is better compared to ‘science’ itself, where there is
no single person who can be said to be its father. Just as science is a
compendium of knowledge pertaining to the eternal truths of this objective
world, so also Vedanta, the great philosophy of Hindu’s, is a body of
knowledge revealed to various highly dedicated thinkers called Rishi's, who
had only one passion, and that was unraveling the mysteries of life &
more so about the subjective truths of man.
Just as in science, here
also the principles stand above personalities. However, unlike science,
such was the extent of making the person secondary to the knowledge that
till today various scholars keep debating about the real author of a
particular work. Rishi's were never bothered about any of their intellectual
property rights or plans of making any living out of this knowledge. This
compendium of sacred knowledge which uncompromisingly deals with the
eternal truths of life, and which is coming down to us from ages is what is referred by us as ‘Shastra's’.
The only Shastra which
is coming down to us from ages are the Vedas. Vedas are the basis of
Hinduism. They are called as ‘Pramana’ - the valid means of knowledge. Such
is the reverence with which they are looked upon that even the various
avatara-purushas refer to them to validate their upadesha's. We had &
still have a great traditions of innumerable great saints, who served the
humanity in various ways, and irrespective of their traditions they are all
highly respected, yet the beauty is that all these saints never attribute
anything to them self, but give all the credit to the Shastra's. This is
very obvious too, because anyone who has had the good fortune of delving
into these fantastic works knows that these scriptures are so complete that
all whatever we say is already directly or indirectly revealed in these
scriptures. So rightly enough we believe Vedas to be the words of God
himself.
In this section we shall
introduce you to these Vedas and other important works which today form the
basis of teaching Vedanta to any new initiate.
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