Publisher's Synopsis
This book intends to provide basic insight into the ancient scriptures of Sanatana Dharma, the Vedas, which are globally recognized as the oldest treasure of knowledge. It is believed that the Vedas were revealed to the ancient sages of India while in intense meditation and sadhana (Yogic practice). The four Vedas are considered to be revealed for the benefit of the universe through four sages, who handed them down the generations by word of mouth (sruti). The Ṝg Veda is regarded as the earliest and most revered book of ancient India; it is the oldest and biggest among all the four Vedas and inhibits all the characteristics of Classical Sanskrit poetry.
The Yajur Veda characterizes the knowledge devoted to the worship of God. It is composed primarily in prose mantras for rituals of worship, and it describes how to accomplish religious rituals and sacred ceremonies. The Samaveda is the Veda of melodies and chants. The Atharva, from atharvaṇas and Veda, meaning "knowledge", is the "knowledge storehouse of atharvaṇas, the procedures for everyday life "subjects like the healing of illnesses, prolonging life. Upavedas or subsidiaries of the Atharvaveda are also not ignored, important among them being:
Dhanurveda - (Originated from the Ṝg Veda)- dealing with the science of warfare; the Gandharva Veda, the study of aesthetics, all art-forms like music, dance, poetry, sculpture, and erotica; the Ayurveda - which teaches the science of health and maintenance of life; the Arthasastra -the science of public administration, governance, economy and polity, and the Sthapatya Veda - which discusses in detail the science of engineering and architecture.
The Agama Sastra serves as the benchmark for all the particulars about spirituality and rituals, and can be considered as an anthology that goes beyond the doctrine; it describes in unambiguous terms how to build a temple, including the simulacrum and idols of deities; it also comes up with directions on proper meditation practices. The Agamas are theological expositions and practical reference books of worship of supernatural powers; these include the Tantras, Mantras, and Yantras; these are the tractates describing the worship of God, in various forms of idols, in temples, etc. The Agama texts provide a divergent range of philosophies, commencing from theistic dualism to absolute monism for various groups of people depending on their academic eligibility and saṃskaras pertaining to their modes.
Rules are laid down in the Agama Sastra for pilgrimage also, of which the three essential things are Sthala, Tirtha, and Murthy; the Sthala here refers to the geographical location of the temple (latitude and longitude of the place), the Tirtha points to the temple tank/river, and Murty denotes the idol. The Agamas are generally referred to as the Sakta Tantras. The other two major categories of Agamas are the Vaiṣṇava Agamas (Vaiṣṇavism) and the Saiva Agamas (Saivism). The praiseworthy effort is taken by the author to provide appropriate image support for the convenience of understanding the concepts by the readers.
The Veda, though they look like hymns meant for pujas, are highly coded scientific equations pertaining to everything in the universe; that's the very reason it is given in self-protective coded forms. What were the great losses suffered after the great devastating war of Mahabharata? It is certainly not the number of horses, elephants, men, etc.; there is no denying that these are not losses, the major loss was Sakha of the Veda containing formulae to decode the Veda mantras. Before one meditates on goddess Gayatri, uttering Her mantra, one submits salutations to its Ṝṣi, Viswamitra. Yaskacharya also states that the mantras have three layers of meaning (trayartha) - yadi mantra artha pratyayaya anarthakaṃ bhavati.
