Vedas – bharatuntoldstory

Veda Vyasa is accredited with compiling the Vedas and writing the Brahma Sutras, which are one of the three great authoritative Hindu philosophical texts. He was also the recorder/writer of the earliest form of the Mahabharata (which was originally called the ‘Jaya’). The followers of Veda Vyasa (the Vyasas or ‘compilers’) carried out the compilation of the Puranas.

His birthday is celebrated as ‘Guru Purnima’ – one of the most sacred days in the Hindu calendar, which is the day when teachers are honored. A popular saying about Veda Vyasa goes: ‘Vyasocchishtasam jagat sarvam’ meaning that so great was the learning of Rishi Veda Vyasa, that even his voluminous writings represent only the periphery of his knowledge. Virtually every Hindu sampradaya (order) traces their lineage to him, and wherever knowledge is propagated and respected is called a Vyaspeeth – Vyasa’s throne.

Yet had Veda Vyasa, the compiler of the Vedas, lived in the later degenerate and perverted age of Hindu society, he may well have been considered an untouchable and not even allowed to touch the Vedas!

His mother (Satyavati) used to sell fish to make a living, and in many parts of Hindu society in its later period of caste insanity this would have made him an untouchable. Yet Vyasa is considered by all Hindus to be the very epitome of wisdom!

This is just one of many examples (another being Valmiki – author of the Ramayana) that shows that the terrible caste rigidity of Hindu society that we have seen at some points in our past, and which still persists today in some parts, was definitely not originally the state of things, and certainly does not represent the true spirit of Hinduism.

What is mind? No matter!

What is matter?

Never mind!Even as scientists all over the world are making concerted efforts to understand the human mind and the human consciousness, a plethora of provocative questions still remain unanswered. As someone said, if we could satisfactorily explain the workings of our minds, our brains would be so simple and underdeveloped that we wouldn’t be able to understand anything! This is a definite limitation of the conventional sciences. And here’s where people take recourse to spirituality, imagination and the occult.

Vedic Science Has the Answers!

Professor Ashok Sharma, a former Indian professor of Applied Physics, who was also a scientist at Harvard University, has formulated some path-breaking theories and postulations based on the ancient Vedic Sciences that give us some powerful insights into the gray regions of the human mind, and help us understand our consciousness.Even after treading for long in the realm of science, Prof Sharma feels that science fails to understand consciousness as an independent entity. He says, “Science cannot integrate a non-physical entity, like consciousness, into its conceptual framework, and views human personality as a non-conscious physical system.”

What is Consciousness?

Consciousness, according to Prof Sharma, is a non-physical entity, which is essentially different from the four basic entities of space, time, energy and matter of the conventional science. Consciousness does not have any physical attribute or property or action, but is endowed with autonomous will power of creation, retention and annihilation of the knowledge of an individual or that of the universe.Quoting the Upanishads (Shvetashwar, 6/19), he says that consciousness itself is non-differentiable, inactive, placid, indescribable and non associative:“Nirajanam Nishkriam Shantam Nirvadyam Niranjanam"But again, consciousness manifests itself in the form of knowledge.
Sharma’s Formula

In the light of the above discussion, Prof Sharma has put forward a formula, where consciousness is represented by a symbol Ψ, which is a set of concepts of knowledge. In the normal state of consciousness, an individual human mind or a conscious system is capable of the finite set of concepts of knowledge I, i.e.,Ψn = I,which he defines as Ego, soul, Atman or Karan Sharir.However, the field of the non-physical entity of consciousness can be expanded to infinity, so as to cognize the total infinite set of concepts of knowledge G, i.e.,Ψ∞= G,which he variously defines as God, Parmathma or Brahma.

Yoga & Meditation

Prof Sharma points out that consciousness is endowed with autonomous will power, and the techniques of Yoga and meditation must be considered as the methods of realization of the self and the development of the will power (Sankalpa Shakti) for the expansion of the field of consciousness Ψ.
Bridging the Gap

Sharma quotes Prof Wigner – "The very study of the physical world leads to the conclusion that the concept of consciousness is an ultimate reality and, all the possible knowledge, concerning objects can be given as its wave function” – and concludes that the gap between Vedic and scientific systems of knowledge has been considerably reduced and scientists have started realizing the necessity of integration of consciousness with the conceptual structure of science.

In Summary

The basic conceptual structure of Prof Ashok Sharma’s “Science of Consciousness” can be summarized as a set of the following propositions:The element of consciousness (Chetan Tatva) is the fundamental entity, which is non-physical, inactive, placid, indescribable and non-associative, but endowed with autonomous will power (Swasankalpa Shakti) to create, retain and annihilate all concepts of knowledge of self and the universe, which can be represented by the symbol Ψ. The concept of consciousness is, essentially, analogous to the vacuum states of the relativistic quantum field theory, except for its autonomous will power.The phenomena of existence of the world are, essentially, the existence of the concepts of knowledge of the phenomenal world in the unified field of consciousness. In view of the non-physical nature of the consciousness, the concept of the unified field of consciousness must be clearly distinguished from the unified field of the physical fields.The stimulus-response function of the conscious system of human personality is due to the association of consciousness, with physiological brain, so as to provide the operation of mind, ‘Ideation Body’ or Karan Sharir. In the normal state of consciousness Ψn, an individual is ignorant about his full potentialities and depends on the knowledge gained through the sensory perception for the expansion of the field of consciousness of knowledge. Since, in the normal state of consciousness, an individual has the capacity of the cognition of a limited set I of the concepts of knowledge, it can be defined as Soul, ‘Ideation Body’, Atma or Karan Sharir, represented by, Ψn = I.The field of consciousness can be expanded by the development of the capability of non-sensory intuitive cognition of knowledge through the techniques of Yoga and meditation, so as to attain the super-conscious state, in which an individual has direct intuitive revelation of knowledge. The final state of Yogic attainment is to have the consciousness of the infinite set of knowledge of the universe, i.e., Ψ∞ = G, which can be interpreted as the realization of God, Allah, Paramatma or Brahman.

The Future of Science!

Prof Sharma, who now lives in New Delhi, is currently working on the conceptual development of the Science of Consciousness, Social System Science and Social Engineering. He hopes that the heritage of the Vedic system of knowledge should be viewed as the future extension of the present non-conscious science, as the science of consciousness.
Need of the Hour

“There is an urgent need to reinterpret the Vedic texts in modern terms – a task which is now possible with the availability of computers and the recent developments in the fields of cognitive sciences, artificial intelligence and theories of knowledge representation”, says Prof Sharma, adding, “However, such an effort requires a concerted effort of the enlightened community of Indians.”

Tesla and Ancient Vedic Philosophy and the Properties of Space
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We have seen a very interesting trend (especially within the past decade) of modern-day science catching up to an ancient understanding about the true nature of reality, its make-up, how it functions and how we can work with it to bring about change on our planet. For anybody to label the merging of ‘spirituality’ and science as pseudoscience means they have not properly investigated it. Spiritual concepts of our ancient world are directly intertwined with modern-day science, more so quantum physics, and Nikola Tesla was well aware of this.

“All perceptible matter comes from a primary substance, or tenuity beyond conception, filling all space, the akasha or luminiferous ether, which is acted upon by the life giving Prana or creative force, calling into existence, in never-ending cycles all things and phenomena.”- Nikola Tesla, Man’s Greatest Achievement, 1907 (1)(2)

As you can see, Tesla was aware of ancient concepts and the correlation it had with the science he was working on -using sanskrit worlds like “akasha,” and “prana” to describe the force and matter that exists all around us. These words come from the Upanishads (a collection of Vedic texts)

“The aakaash is not destructible, it is the primordial absolute substratum that creates cosmic matter and hence the properties of aakaash are not found in the material properties that are in a sense relative. The aakaash is the eternally existent, superfluid reality, for which creation and destruction are inapplicable.” – (Idham thadhakshare parame vyoman. Parame vyoman) – Paramahamsa Tewari, Engineer, Physicist and Inventor. (source)

Nikola Tesla had correlations with Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902), who was one of the most famous and influential spiritual leaders of the philosophies of Vedanta (one of the six schools of Hindu philosophy, the term originally referred to the upanishads, a collection of philosophical texts in Hinduism) and Yoga.

He was the chief disciple of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and the founder of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission. He is a giant figure in the history of the hindu reform movements.

Swami Vivekananda wrote a letter to Tesla in the late 1800’s stating:

“Mr. Tesla thinks he can demonstrate mathematically that force and matter are reducible to potential energy. I am to go and see him next week to get this new mathematical demonstration. In that case the Vedantic cosmology will be placed on the surest of foundations. I am working a good deal now upon the cosmology and eschatology of the Vedanta. I clearly see their perfect union with modern science, and the elucidation of the one will be followed by that of the other.” – Swami Vivekananda (Complete Works, VOL. V, Fifth Edition, 1347, p. 77). (1)

Tesla began using the Sanskrit words after meeting with Swami, and after studying the Eastern view of the true nature of reality, about the mechanisms that drive the material world. Eventually, it led him to the basis for the wireless transmission of electrical power, what is known as the Tesla Coil Transformer. During this year he made the following comments during a speech before the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. (Given before he familiarized himself with the the Vedic sincere of the easter nations of India, Tibet, and Nepal.)

“Ere many generations pass, our machinery will be driven by a power obtainable at any point in the universe. This idea is not novel…We find it in the delightful myth of Antheus, who derives power from the earth; we find it among subtle speculations of one of your splendid mathematicians….Throughout space there is energy. Is this energy static, or kinetic? If static our hopes are in vain; if kinetic – and this we know it is, for certain – then it is a mere question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheel work of nature.” – Nikola Tesla (source)

The Vedas are a group of writings that consist of hymns, prayers, myths, historical accounting, science and the nature of reality. They date back at least 5000 years, and are not so different from other ancient texts that dive into the same matters from all across the globe. The language used is Sanskrit and its origins are unknown.

“Swami Vivekananda was hopeful that Tesla would be able to show that what we call matter is simply potential energy because that would reconcile the teachings of the Vedas with modern science. The Swami realized that in that case, the Vedantic cosmology (would) be placed on the surest of foundations. Tesla understood the Sanskrit terminology and philosophy and found that it was a good means to describe the physical mechanisms of the universe as seen through his eyes. It would behoove those who would attempt to understand the science behind the inventions of Nikola Tesla to study Sanskrit and Vedic philosophy.” – Toby Grotz, President, Wireless Engineering (source)

Apparently, Tesla was unable to show the identity of energy and matter, this did not come until Albert Einstein published his paper on relativity, which was known in the East for the last 5000 years.

“All the powers in the universe are already ours. It is we who have put our hands before our eyes and cry that it is dark.” – Swami Vivekananda

Tesla’s vision of the wireless transmission of electricity and free energy has been postponed for almost one hundred years now. Which brings us close to modern research on Tesla and Vedic thoughts.

http://csglobe.com/the-influence-vedic-philosophy-had-on-nikola-tesla-s-idea-of-free-energy/

“The sun god follows the first illuminated and enlightened goddess Usha (dawn) in the same manner as men emulate and follow women.”Athravaveda Samhita, Part 2, Kanda 27, sukta 107, sloka 5705.

Vedas have described that Gods reside at north direction and one day for them is equivalent to one year for humans.This was based on idea that north pole has six months of sunlight and six months of darkness, which makes it day and night for one year.Varaha Mihir, one the most famous Indian astronomer (around 6th century AD), identified North Pole as the location of Meru in his celebrated work Panch-siddhāntikā.

Indian Historian and Freedom-fighter, Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak, in his phenomenal work titled, ‘The Arctic Home of the Vedas‘, written in late 19th century, gives an extremely detailed as well as convincing account based on the literary evidence of various Slokas from Rig Veda and the Zoroastrian Avesta that point to an Arctic Home of the ancient People of Vedic Ancient Civilizations.

Surya Siddantha mentions a Meru in the middle of Earth, a Sumeru at the North Pole and a Kumeru at the South pole.Which means that the structure called Meru stretches from pole to pole and Hell exists at South Pole, just like Heaven at North Pole.

Meru does not refer to a mountain at all but instead is an allegory for the Earth’s Axis of Rotation.Ancient scriptures describe Meru as the Central Pivot of the Universe, sort of like an Axis mundi, and claim that the entire COSMOS revolves around it, with the Sun, Moon and Stars paying obeisance while circum-ambulating the Holy Mountain.

Interestingly there is a Mount Meru in Tanzania, which roughly corresponds to the geographic Center of the Earth.The Mountain is even worshipped by the local tribes as an abode of Gods.In the neighbouring country Kenya, we also find a town with the same name.Another ancient Sanskrit text, the Narpatijayacharya mentions Sumeru as being present in the middle of the Earth, but not visible to humans.

From altar astronomy to classical astronomy:

Classical Indian astronomy arose after the close interaction between the Indians and the Greeks subsequent to the invasion of the borders of India by Alexander the Great (323 B.C.). The existence of an independent tradition of observation of planets and a theory thereof as shown by geometric altars,
the Rigvedic code, and the VJ helps explain the puzzle why classical Indian astronomy uses many constants that are different from that of the Greeks.
This confirms the thesis that although classical Indian astronomy developed in knowledge of certain Greek works, the reason why it retained its characteristic form was because it was based on an independent, old tradition.
The astronomy of the third and the second millennium B.C. can provide the context in which the developments of Babylonian, Chinese, Greek, and the later Indian astronomy can be examined. It appears that certain features of the earliest Babylonian astronomy can be derived from an altar astronomy
that may have been widely known in the ancient world, but whose records are now available only in the Indian texts.
It also raises the question of an analysis of the altars and monuments from Babylon, Greece, and Rome to examine their designs. Likewise, the references in the Greek literature to geometric problems related to areas
need to be investigated further for their astronomical significance.
Later religious architecture, both in the east and the west, became more abstract but its astronomical inspiration was never hidden. In Europe cathedrals were a representation of the vault of heavens. In India the temple architecture, as spelt out in the manuals of the first centuries A.D. (see, for
example, Kramrisch 1946), symbolizes the sky where in addition to equivalence by number or area, equivalence by category was considered. The temple platform was divided into 64 or 81 squares (Figure 2). In the case of the 64- squared platform, the outer 28 squares represented the 28 lunar mansions of
the Indic astronomy. For the 81-squared platform, the outer 32 squares were taken to represent the lunar mansions and the four planets who rule over the equinoxial and solstitial points. Stella Kramrisch, the renowned scholar of the Indian temple architecture, has also argued that another measure in the
temple was that of 25,920, the number of years in the period of the precession of the equinoxes. Whether the precessional figure was received by the Indians from the Greeks or obtained independently is not clear.

This was the final post on Shulbha sutra ! Hope You liked it.

Computation of tithis, naks.atras, kal¯as:

Although we have spoken of a mean tithi related through the lunar year
equalling 360 tithis, the determination of a tithi each day is by a calculation
of a shift of 12◦ with respect to the sun. In other words, in 30 tithis it will
cover the full circle of 360◦. But the shift of 12◦ is in an irregular manner
and the duration of the tithi can vary from day to day. As a practical method a mean tithi can be defined by a formula. In terms of kal¯as a tithi is
approximately 593 kal¯as. VJ takes it to be 122 parts of the day divided into
124 parts (RVJ 22, YVJ 37, 40).
Since the calendar was calibrated by naks.atras, tithis were figured by a
rule and not in a precise mean manner.
Each yuga was taken to begin with the asterism Sravis ´ .t.h¯a and the synodic
month of M¯agha, the solar month Tapas and the bright fortnight (parvan),
and the northward course of the sun and the moon (RVJ 5-6; YVJ 6-7). The
intercalary months were used in a yuga. But since the civil year was 366
days, or 372 tithis, it was necessary to do further corrections. As shown in
the earlier section, a further correction was performed at 95 year, perhaps at
multiples of 19 years.
The day of the lunar month corresponds to the tithi at sunrise. A tithi
can be lost whenever it begins and ends between one sunrise and the next.
Thus using such a mean system, the days of the month can vary in length.

Rule on end of parvan:

The determination of the exact ending of the synodic fortnight (parvan) is
important from the point of view of the performance of ritual. Let p be the
parvans that have elapsed from the beginning of the yuga. Since each parvan has 1,830 parts, the number of parts, b, remaining in the day at the end of p parvans is:
b = 1830 p mod 124.
Now consider
p mod 4 = α,
and
1830 mod 31 = 1.
By multiplying the two modular equations, it can be easily shown that
b = (1829 × α + p)mod 124.

By substituting the values α = 1, 2, 3 we get the YVJ 12 rule:
When α = 1, b = p + 93 mod 124;
when α = 2, b = p + 62 mod 124;
when α = 3, b = p + 31 mod 124

Rule on naks.atra parts:

The naks.atra part of the sun at the end of the pth parvan, s, is clearly:
s = 135 p mod 124.
This is because 124 parvans equal the 135 naks.atra segments for the sun
at the end of the yuga of 5 years. Let p = 12 × q + r. Then we can write:
135 p mod 124 = 11 × (12q + r)=8q + 11r mod 124.
This is the rule described to compute the naks.atras of the sun (RVJ 10,
YVJ 15).
If the moon is full, it will be in opposition to the sun and, therefore, 13 1
2
segments, or 13 naks.atras and 62 parts away. So the rule further states that
for a full moon its naks.atra parts are computed by adding 62 to the parts
obtained for the sun. This can be seen directly by noting that the naks.atra
parts of the moon, m, will be according to:
m = 1809 p mod 124.
This leads to the equation:
m = 8q + 73r mod 124.
This is in excess from s by 62r mod 124, which is 62 when p is odd.

Moon naks.atra in kal¯as:

Since 124 parvans correspond to 1,809 or 67 × 27 naks.atras, 17 parvans correspond
to 248+ 1
124 naks.atras. Now the moon passes through each naks.atra
in 610 kal¯as, therefore the 248 days correspond to 248×610
603 days; this equals
250 days and 530 kal¯as. If we assume that we are just one part short of the
16th parvan, we have its modular relationship with 530 kal¯as. For 8 naks.atra
parts short, this corresponds to 530 × 8 mod 603 = 19 kal¯as. Each part is
-73 kal¯as. This rule is in RVJ 11 and YVJ 19.

The constructions of the geometric altars as well as the Vedic books that
come centuries before VJ (Kak 1994b) confirm that the Vedic Indians knew
that the year was more than 365 days and less than 366 days. The VJ
system could thus have only served as a framework. It appears that there
were other rules of missing days that brought the calendar into consonance
with the reality of the naks.atras at the end of the five year yuga and at the
end of the 95 year cycle of altar construction.
Mean motion astronomy can lead to significant discrepancy between true
and computed values. The system of intercalary months introduced further
irregularity into the system. This means that the conjunction between the
sun and the moon that was assumed at the beginning of each yuga became
more and more out of joint until such time that the major extra-yuga corrections
were made. This is perhaps the reason why the Indian books do not
describe the location of the junction stars of the naks.atras very accurately.

A close investigation of the Vedic system of mathematics shows that it was much more advanced than the mathematical systems of the civilizations of the Nile or the Euphrates. The Vedic mathematicians had developed the decimal system of tens, hundreds, thousands, etc. where the remainder from one column of numbers is carried over to the next. The advantage of this system of nine number signs and a zero is that it allows for calculations to be easily made. Further, it has been said that the introduction of zero, or sunya as the Indians called it, in an operational sense as a definite part of a number system, marks one of the most important developments in the entire history of mathematics. The earliest preserved examples of the number system which is still in use today are found on several stone columns erected in India by King Ashoka in about 250 B.C.E. Similar inscriptions are found in caves near Poona (100 B.C.E.) and Nasik (200 C.E.). These earliest Indian numerals appear in a script called brahmi.

After 700 C.E. another notation, called by the name “Indian numerals,” which is said to have evolved from the brahmi numerals, assumed common usage, spreading to Arabia and from there around the world. When Arabic numerals (the name they had then become known by) came into common use throughout the Arabian empire, which extended from India to Spain, Europeans called them “Arabic notations,” because they received them from the Arabians. However, the Arabians themselves called them “Indian figures” (Al-Arqan-Al-Hindu) and mathematics itself was called “the Indian art” (hindisat).

A.L. Basham, foremost authority on ancient India, writes in The Wonder That Was India,

Medieval Indian mathematicians, such as Brahmagupta (seventh century), Mahavira (ninth century), and Bhaskara (twelfth century), made several discoveries which in Europe were not known until the Renaissance or later. They understood the import of positive and negative quantities, evolved sound systems of extracting square and cube roots, and could solve quadratic and certain types of indeterminate equations.“ [6] Mahavira’s most noteworthy contribution is his treatment of fractions for the first time and his rule for dividing one fraction by another, which did not appear in Europe until the 16th century.

The Shulba Sutras are part of the larger corpus of texts called the Shrauta Sutras, considered to be appendices to the Vedas. They are the only sources of knowledge of Indian mathematics from the Vedic period. Unique fire-altar shapes were associated with unique gifts from the Gods. For instance, “he who desires heaven is to construct a fire-altar in the form of a falcon”; “a fire-altar in the form of a tortoise is to be constructed by one desiring to win the world of Brahman” and “those who wish to destroy existing and future enemies should construct a fire-altar in the form of a rhombus”.

The four major Shulba Sutras, which are mathematically the most significant, are those composed by Baudhayana, Manava, Apastamba and Katyayana, about whom very little is known. The texts are dated by comparing their grammar and vocabulary with that of other Vedic texts. The texts have been dated from around 800 BCE to 200 CE, with the oldest being a sutra attributed to Baudhayana around 800 BCE to 600 BCE.

There are competing theories about the origins of the geometrical material found in the Shulba sutras. According to the theory of the ritual origins of geometry, different shapes symbolized different religious ideas, and the need to manipulate these shapes led to the creation of the pertinent mathematics. Another theory is that the mystical properties of numbers and geometry were considered spiritually powerful and consequently, led to their incorporation into religious texts.

The following Shulba Sutras exist in print or manuscript

Apastamba
Baudhayana
Manava
Katyayana
Maitrayaniya (somewhat similar to Manava text)
Varaha (in manuscript)
Vadhula (in manuscript)
Hiranyakeshin (similar to Apastamba Shulba Sutras)

Veda Vyasa & the question of untouchability
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Veda Vyasa is a legendary Hindu sage, whose very name is synonymous to Hindus with knowledge. According to traditional Hindu accounts, he lived at the end of the Treta Yuga and early Kali Yuga (the date for the beginning of the Kali Yuga is 3102BC).
Veda Vyasa is accredited with compiling the Vedas and writing the Brahma Sutras, which are one of the three great authoritative Hindu philosophical texts. He was also the recorder/writer of the earliest form of the Mahabharata (which was originally called the ‘Jaya’). The followers of Veda Vyasa (the Vyasas or ‘compilers’) carried out the compilation of the Puranas.