Why Do the Vedas Emphasize Rituals Over Philosophy? || Acharya Prashant (2024)
Video Information: 12.10.2024, Vedanta: Basics to Classics, Greater Noida
Description:
Acharya Ji emphasizes the significance of the Vedas, particularly the Karamkand section, as a comprehensive representation of human experience. Unlike a mere collection of lofty ideals, the Vedas reveal the entire process of knowledge, including struggles, failures, and growth. This honesty allows individuals to relate to the teachings without feeling inferior or inadequate.
The Vedas encompass both the ordinary and the profound, encouraging seekers to distinguish timeless wisdom from context-specific content. By addressing everyday human experiences alongside higher spiritual pursuits, they present a holistic approach to understanding life and its complexities.
Ultimately, the Vedas illustrate that the journey of knowledge is as important as the final insights. This perspective reassures individuals that struggles are not obstacles but essential steps on the path to growth. By showcasing the complete human experience, the Vedas inspire seekers to embrace their own journey with patience, courage, and self-acceptance.
🎧 Listen to Acharya Prashant on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/2QmVEAAnsNE7Xs0MW0Li8Y?si=09fbcbc7c99c469b
#AcharyaPrashant #आचार्यप्रशांत #Philosophy #BhagavadGita
Video Information: 12.10.2024, Vedanta: Basics to Classics, Greater Noida
Description:
Acharya Ji emphasizes the significance of the Vedas, particularly the Karamkand section, as a comprehensive representation of human experience. Unlike a mere collection of lofty ideals, the Vedas reveal the entire process of knowledge, including struggles, failures, and growth. This honesty allows individuals to relate to the teachings without feeling inferior or inadequate.
The Vedas encompass both the ordinary and the profound, encouraging seekers to distinguish timeless wisdom from context-specific content. By addressing everyday human experiences alongside higher spiritual pursuits, they present a holistic approach to understanding life and its complexities.
Ultimately, the Vedas illustrate that the journey of knowledge is as important as the final insights. This perspective reassures individuals that struggles are not obstacles but essential steps on the path to growth. By showcasing the complete human experience, the Vedas inspire seekers to embrace their own journey with patience, courage, and self-acceptance.
🎧 Listen to Acharya Prashant on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/2QmVEAAnsNE7Xs0MW0Li8Y?si=09fbcbc7c99c469b
#AcharyaPrashant #आचार्यप्रशांत #Philosophy #BhagavadGita
Category
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LearningTranscript
00:00Namaste Acharyaji. What is the relevance of the Vedas, Karamkand part? As for common human
00:07mind in the massive volume of Vedas, there is a higher chance of missing out the Upanishads.
00:12Why it was considered fit to design the body of Vedas in such a way that massive part belongs
00:17to that which is non-Upanishadic and a little place for Upanishads?
00:21The compilation is a testament to the honesty of the compiler. They were not saying we have
00:40dropped right from the sky. They are not just giving you the final finished end product. They
00:52are revealing to you the entire process. If only the Upanishads are given to you, you will be
00:59overawed. You will almost be struck with an inferiority complex. Oh my God! Where did this
01:17come from? You will not be able to develop any relationship, any direct relationship with the
01:30Upanishads. Not only this, it will become very intuitive for you to think that reaching the
01:45heights of the Upanishads is beyond you. But when you look at the entire body of the Vedas, what you
01:56see is a very human thing. Now again, I am saying this knowing fully well that the Vedas are not
02:05supposed to be talked of as human in their origins. But you look at the honesty of the compiler. He
02:19didn't hide anything. He said this is the entire process. This is the entire body of knowledge and
02:28we are presenting everything to you.
02:34It's like your grandparents not telling you just the glories of their times but also their struggles,
02:48their inadequacies, their failures and then revealing to you how the summit came after series of attempts,
03:07struggles, suffering, everything. Therefore, I am saying that when you look at the whole massive compendium,
03:23the word that emerges from there is honesty. So much could have been hidden, very easily hidden. There is no
03:30need to give all that. Just give the selected excerpts, the best kind of assortment and the Vedas would have
03:49been glorified to an even higher extent. You would have said, look at the Vedas, such brief precise scriptures
04:07containing the highest wisdom. And mind you, it's not as if the entire wisdom part is contained in the Upanishads
04:18and the rest of it is scrapped. It's not that way. When you go, for example, to the Devi Sukta or to the Nasdiya Sukta,
04:28you see the beginnings of what is going to come very soon. So, it's an organic growth. You cannot totally compartmentalize
04:39and say the Karmakand part is just rubbish and the Upanishadic part is just fantastic. In fact, if you go to the early Upanishads,
04:51they are not even brief. If you go to Chandogya, if you go to Brahadaranyaka, especially these two, these are quite voluminous.
05:00And these are also not as cleanly filtered as the later Upanishads. There is a lot in the early Upanishads that you can say is not of the same level,
05:21not of the same glory as the rest of Vedanta. If you pick up Chandogya and juxtapose it with the Ashtavakra Gita or the Bhagavad Gita,
05:38the Chandogya doesn't stand a chance. Still, the entirety of it was presented to you. Nothing to hide, nothing to be ashamed of.
05:54You please look at everything. Because that's the human process. Please see. It is through struggles, tribulations, failures that something of glory finally emerges.
06:14The Vedas are clearly disclosing to you how many times they have stumbled. That's fine. Everything has been given.
06:31It is a matter of trust that the inheritors of this body of knowledge will have the common sense, the discretion to shift what is useful, what is timeless from that which is time bound and merely preparatory.
07:02You go to the Atharva Veda. Some people do not even call it a Veda. They say there are not four but only three Vedas.
07:12And it contains a lot of things that will make you wonder, how do I even call it a body of knowledge?
07:25All kinds of what you will call as superstitions abound there.
07:31At the same time, the Atharva Veda also contains some glorious Upanishads.
07:39The compiler obviously was at liberty to exclude what was not up to the level of the Upanishads but nothing was excluded.
07:52You don't hide from the ones you love. Do you?
07:55The sages loved us. They didn't want to hide anything. They said this is the entire bundle. You look at everything.
08:06I will not present a nicely chiseled and pedicured and manicured family album to you.
08:12I will also tell you of the gossips and the petty squabbles and even the internecine fights.
08:32We will tell you everything.
08:39You deserve to know everything.
08:43Right to information.
08:47Everything is being told to you. It depends on you what to pick up and what to very respectfully keep in the museum.
09:00You must know what is of contemporary use and what is merely historical.
09:12The sages are saying, we are placing this trust on you.
09:18We hope you will have the common sense to see that there is a lot that has no contemporary relevance.
09:25But still it is useful because you must know the whole process through which you came to the fruit.
09:33Apples don't fall from the sky.
09:37We are teaching you the entire process that leads to the apple.
09:42The Vedas are not just the apple. The Vedas are the making of the apple.
09:48The entire process of the making has been disclosed.