Vedic Teachings – An Overview

• Ramesh Gupta MD
• President Elect Arya Pratinidhi Sabha America
• Cell 201 602 7576

• Vedas constitute God’s pure speech. The knowledge contained therein forms the basis of our civilization and culture. Every human being has the right to study the Vedas.
• At the onset of creation, God transmitted the Vedas by way of inner inspiration to the four Rishis – Rig-Ved to Agni Rishi, Yajurveda to Vayu Rishi, Samaveda to Aditya Rishi, and Atharva-Ved to Angira Rishi.
• There are ten elements of righteousness, the Vedic Dharma –
• Dhriti (Patience): One should imbibe the qualities of patience, contentment, etc.
• Kshama (Forgiveness): We should refrain from envy and vengeance.
• Damah (Restraint): The mental fancies should be controlled. There be no even a desire for perform acts of Adharma.
• Asteya (Not to Steal): We shouldn’t acquire wealth by cunning, cheating, deceitful, false, improper and corrupt acts.
• Shauch (Cleanliness): We should maintain cleanliness by way of our ideas, acts and behavior in a total manner, that is, in thoughts, words and deeds.
• Indriya-Nigrah (Restraining the Sense Organs): To maintain control on our sense organs and motor organs.
• Dhih-Buddhi (Intellect): To function wisely. This includes avoidance of substances which are addictive and affect intellect, avoid wicked people, don’t be lazy, be with good people, practice yoga etc,
• Vidya (Knowledge): To acquire true knowledge about all that exists, from the minutest particles of matter to the infinite spirit of God, and then to derive benefits from them.
• Satya (Truthfulness): To be truthful by way of our qualities, deeds and nature within. To understand the true nature of things.
• Akrodh (Absence of Anger): To be tolerant so as to be away from anger, our fiercest enemy.
• God’s own name is Om and that is the most natural sound.
• According to the Vedic tenets, God is embodiment of truth, consciousness and bliss, formless, almighty, just, kind, unborn, infinitely endless, without any defects, beginningless, unequal, support to all, ruler of all, omnipresent, all-pervading, un-decaying, immortal, fearless, eternal, pure and creator. Worship is due to Him alone.
• God never incarnates in the human, fish, tortoise or any other such bodily form. No idol can represent Him. It is contrary to the Vedic teachings to worship an idol of any other being or that of Shri Ram in lieu of genuine worship for God.
• Vedic message is based on the eternal trinity of God, individual souls and matter. These three entities are unborn and undying.
• The heaven is the pleasant state of a soul and the hell is its painful state.
• The relationship between God and individual soul is of: to be worshipped and worshipper, father-child, emperor-subject, master-servant and so on.
• An individual soul’s knowledge is limited while God is all knowing.
• Braahman, Kshatriy, Vaishy and Shudra – four Varnas are based on the qualifications, merits, and temperament of an individual human being. One picks up a Varna based on his/her ability to discharge certain functions.
• Satsang (Assembling with noble souls for scriptural studies and talks), self-study of scriptures, devotional activities towards God, Taking care of the parents and other elders, celibacy, performing the righteous deeds and to lead life with purity – these comprise of Teerth in a true sense.
• Vedic teachings implore every householder to perform the five great rituals every day –
• Brahma-Yajna (Communion with God by way of Meditation/ Sandhya)
• Agnihotra (Fire based ritual for fumigation of herbal substances to nullify the harm we do to the environment)
• Pitri-Yajna (Taking good care of the living parents, grand parents, etc.)
• Balivaishvadev-Yajna (Taking care of the destitute, orphans, stray animals, etc. by way of providing food, etc.)
• Atithi-Yajna (Taking care of the noble souls who visit our homes with or without prior intimation)
• Sixteen sacraments must be performed for every individual’s physical, social and spiritual growth.
• A human being is free to perform deeds and thereby can build own fate.
• Taking care of the living parents and other elders by providing food, clothing, etc. with a sense of gratitude is the true Shraddh and Tarpan. There is no such relevant activity due to them after their death, according to the Vedas.
• God is absolute just. He delivers justice to every human being for every deed without any favour. There is absolutely no way to get away from the reward that is due to accrue from a particular deed already committed. The noble deeds bring happiness while the vicious deeds bring pain and sorrow.
• Maharshi Dayanand established the organization, called Arya Samaj to spread the message of the Vedas so that the entire humanity could be benefitted by way of unity, love and brotherhood. Arya Samaj is based on the eternal truths of the Vedas.
• Astronomy is relevant to our daily life while astrology is of no good.
• According to the Vedas, one should follow the teachings of Yam and Niyam (the first two limbs of Patanjali’s Eight-fold Yoga) and meditate upon the pure nature of God to seek salvation by getting rid of the nescience. The time duration of emancipation is said to be 311,040 billion years. For such a length of time, an individual soul is untouched by any pain and enjoys the bliss of God’s company. Thereafter, the soul takes rebirth.

 “ satyam bruyat, priyam bruyat, na bruyat satyam apriyam     priyam cha naanritam bruyat eshah dharmah sanatanah”(manu 4.138)

•       This means to speak the truth with a pleasing tone, don’t speak the truth which would hurt   someone, and don’t say sweet things which are untrue.

  “ Udhareta aatmana aatmaanam, na aatmaanam avasadayet      Aatmev hyaatmano bandhur aatmev ripuh aatmanah”

• This means: One should elevate one self to a higher level and listen to the true   inner conscience and never allow oneself to be degraded.  You can be your own best friend and at the same time, your worst enemy.