Introduction to Vedanta - Part I

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What it means and what it doesn't

A reputed Belgian scholar of Indology is said to have criticised recently, the belief that the Vedas are 'timeless' scriptures, not revealed by any single prophet. According to him, this is a non-verifiable belief and the Vedas also have a historical date. The problem with such historical pundits is that they often go by the letter and miss the spirit. And pundits are very eager for controversies and debates whereas, this column is meant for more down to earth people who may be more interested in the practical and strengthening teachings of Vedanta than in such scholarly debates. Hence, we will not examine this controversy in detail here. But any introduction to Vedanta will be incomplete without a note on the texts of its origin - the Vedas and their special characteristics.

The word Veda is a derivative of the Sanskrit root word vid, to know. The Vedas consist of sacred knowledge revealed to the Rishis during their intense contemplation and meditation on the deepest mysteries of life and death, the nature of the universe and the soul, the relationship between man and Ishwara etc. This body of knowledge was classified into four parts by a sage called Vyasa into Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharvana Vedas based on the nature of the teachings or knowledge involved. Before Vyasa Maharishi divided them into these four parts and took up the laborious task of putting them down in writing, this body of knowledge was passed down from generation to generation orally, through a disciplined system of chanting. UNESCO recently recognised this wonderful system of Vedic chanting and declared it as a unique world heritage, for having successfully preserved this vast body of knowledge with great accuracy down to the last syllable.

Please note carefully that the term 'Veda' refers to this vast body of sacred knowledge and not to the compiled or written scriptures called the Vedas. So, when it is said that the Veda is timeless, it refers to the revealed knowledge, which is not the exclusive possession of any one person or obtained at a particular period in time. The knowledge was always there. It became revealed to the rishi because of his sincere and committed search and as a result of prolonged austerity (tapas). It is timeless in that sense. Hence, the two attributes - Apaurusheya (not created by any human being) and Anaadi (timeless, with no specific time-bound origin). The definition is liberal enough to include any new revealed knowledge, which is in conformity with the Vedic vision, into the Veda.

Now, the term Vedanta is a combination of two words - Veda and Anta (end portion). Therefore, Vedanta refers to the teachings usually located in the end portions of the Vedas. This portion of teachings is also referred to as the Upanishads. For example, the Aitareya Upanishad is part of the Rig Veda, Isha Upanishad belongs to Yajur Veda, Kena Upanishad to the Sama Veda and Mandukya Upanishad to the Atharva Veda.

Around 120 such Upanishads are available to us in written form today. It is believed that there must have been many more such texts, which were destroyed in course of time because of natural erosion (palm leaves) or because of man-made destruction. The famous library in the ancient university of Nalanda is believed to have contained nearly 4 million manuscripts on diverse subjects, material and spiritual, including Vedanta. The library was set afire by foreign invaders who had no regard for such knowledge. History tells us that the library kept burning for six months, such was the magnitude of the manuscripts and stored documents in it!

Out of the available Upanishads today, ten of them are considered very important as they were commented upon by the great proponent of the 'Advaita' school of teaching, Adi Sankaracharya. Also, apart from these principal Upanishads, the Brahma Sutras composed by Veda Vyasa, and the Bhagavad Gita (which occurs in the Mahabharata) are also considered as important pillars of the Vedantic teaching. Together, the Upanishads, the Brahma Sutras and the Bhagavad Gita are called as 'Prasthana Trayi' (the three great or three important texts).

Therefore, the term 'Vedanta' broadly refers to the teachings of the Prasthana Trayi which are all in conformity with each other as far as their principal truths are concerned. In the next article, we will examine through a series of FAQs, some common misconceptions about Vedanta.

P.S. I received an interesting query from Smt. P. Parijata, a reader from Hyderabad, she writes, "In your previous article on Pravritti and Nivritti, you categorized the elder son of the bookshop owner as an example of Nivritti. But, he was not withdrawing himself (nivrtti). He was contented with whatever was available and wasn't craving for something beyond his grasp. Being contended is not nivritti, right?"

Yes, contentment (santosha) is not Nivritti. In fact, contentment is listed as one of the important qualities to be cultivated by a spiritual seeker to become eligible to grasp the teachings of Vedanta. As long as there is a strong craving for material objects, it means that the person is trying to become different from what he is and his search has not yet turned inward towards a clearer understanding of the Self. However, withdrawal often assumes the disguise of contentment in lazy people (tamas). When we do not want to put in enough effort to achieve something, we tend to justify our lack of enthusiasm with the excuse of being 'contented.' The behaviour of the elder son in the story I narrated seems to belong to this category rather than that of a true contented seeker.