A glimpse of Vedic Civilization - Part 1

आ नो भद्राः क्रतवो यन्तु विश्वतः  (rig veda)
(May good thoughts come from everywhere, from all the world)

 I have always been fond of civilizations and history or more so itihasa ( iti + ha + āsa - 'so indeed it was'). Although i am no expert in the field, it is curiosity towards the subject which has made me read about it. I think it is a deep injustice to call the vedic civilization as mere hindusim, As Vedic civilization is more of a ideology on how best to live than mere set of mindless traditions( Although i won't say we don't need traditions at all, my views are here). It hurts even more to see  that the contributions of vedic civilization is trivialized and tabooed in the name of secularism.

I have always wondered when we have archaeological evidence of stone inscriptions/scriptures to know about the earlier civilization, what would happen if our generation of silicon driven would go to dust, It would literally be sand with no trace of what we have achieved, may be it had happened earlier too.

If you have followed my earlier posts, you would have noted that I quote a lot of gita/ Indus scriptures, based on which there were quite a few who wanted to understand the vedic culture and were asking my source for what i quote on, as the list was exhaustive thought of writing a blog about it.

1. If you want to know more about the civilization itself there are quite lot of books, few of my favourites are  sarasvati-river-and-the-vedic-civilization by NS rajaram, or this interesting video by David Frawley. You can search for several books by these authors to know more about the civilization itself.

2. One of the biggest contributions of the civilization has been the vedas when it appears gibberish in the outset it has deeper philosophical meaning, Given the fact that The vedas, especially rig veda which is written in about 4000 BC is one of the oldest known written scripture available in the world makes it even more interesting. Most of the vedas and upanishad text are available here. 
Aurobindo's hold on the vedas according to me is unquestionable, You can find most of his books here, Including the secret of the vedas. 
Kannada audio discourses by shatavadhani R Ganesh here : 
Vedamantra-Parichaya-Vol-1 and Vedamantra-Parichaya-Vol-2
There are a lot of published books on upanishads especially by Ramakrishna Math.

3. For a novice like me,  Interpretations of vedas and upanishads are quite loaded  and thus it makes sense to start with Gita/ Mahabharahta.
It is not for neigh that it is written in Mahabharatha that which is not found here cannot be found anywhere , Because it goes in depth in dealing with the Dharma sukhmas ( Although Dharma loosely translates to religion, it is not correct, It just means What is right situationally, One should note that what is right at a particular situation may not hold always, perception of right is always contextual more about it later, On a side note regarding this topic of sample space and contextual there is a book Fooled by Randomness by Taleb!). 
Best books on Baghavad gita (Part of Mahabharatha ) I have come across are : 
a) Gita Rahasya by lokamanya Tilak 
b) Search for historical krishna  by NS Rajaram
c) Essays on the Gita by Aurobindo.
d) Audio discourses on Bhagavat Gita by Shatavadhani R Ganesh :
                                          Sri-Krishnana-Baduku-Mattu-Bhagavadgeete 
                                          Shrimadbhagavadgeethe
                                           Mahabharatha-Upakhyana-1
                                           Mahabharatha-Upakhyana-2
Also the list is not complete without the teachings of Vivekananda, You can find the link to his book here. If interested there are also quite a lot of books in sanskrit converted here.
I guess I have given quite a bit of books related to spirituality and philosophy, I would like to cover more on the science/material aspects of in coming posts. Also I would like to write on misunderstood concepts of take on vedic culture on women, caste etc of whatever little I come to learn over a period of time.

Om Tat Sat
Note: Most of the links that are provided for books are free to download books, All the links to audio discourses are free as well. Also they are available in pdf format, you could convert it to any ereader format using calibre.

Big Bang - Universe and some random thoughts...

I have always wondered why sunset and nightsky makes me elated and sad at the same time, so when lot of thoughts were running in my mind reading this cartoon strip on xkcd came to me as a surprise, there is nothing as pleasant as the awareness that your craziness is shared.

Ok I guess i might have spilled enough beans to tell that i'm talking about universe.It's no surprise that it is coming just after I read simon singh's Big Bang theory, It would be an under-statment if I said I love his books!, It is the same amalgamation of history and science in all his books be it Fermat's last theorem/Code Book that grips me. Also I just happened to see this video about the magnitude of universe. Coming back to universe and his book, It covers quite a lot about how the cosmology has evolved and big bang theory was arrived at, but then it all stops into that assumption of primordial atom, expansion of which gave rise to space and time, It amuses me that science based on the inferential logic has to always stop at that, and fall back to meta physics or philosophy and still resort to never ending debate of that vs this.Only complaint i have about the book is that it completely ignore the beautiful concept of time and universe in the vedas, which you can read here.

Ideally when one looks the night sky there is an overwhelming feeling of humbleness and all the troubles seem to just seem like a whiff of dust(pun intended), truly the first thought that comes is, does really things matter ? and then what makes one motivated to live and keep morality ? , may be that is why there came the concept of karma theory or 72 virginal women waiting in heaven
or the judgmental day , so that one has something to look for or playing with the
factor of fear.

But there should be something more rational to have driven billions of people over years to have lived and propagated, this question is well captured in yaksha prashne that when yaksha asks yudhistira what wonders him most and yudhistira replies "Day after day countless people die. Yet the living wishes to live forever" .

so when you look further into gita krishna says

नैनं छिन्दन्ति शस्त्राणि नैनं दहति पावकः .
न चैनं क्लेदयन्त्यापो न शोषयति मारुतः २.२३
( Weapons cannot destroy it, fire burns It not, water moistens It not, wind dries It not)
The closest fit that comes to this definition in science is energy, as it is fundamental from the law of conservation of energy we as in the miniscule entity as that source of energy live on forever, so our actions matter after all!  Just like how a slight imbalance in air pressure or a small corruption in memory can crash a plane or a system respectively, we matter in the greater scheme of things. Just to think that one is responsible in the evolution of universe is good enough reason to live on in the present and not worry about day to day problems. You have a role to play remember :-).

At the end of the day Existence Exists !

A Timeless Debate.... Love or Arranged Marriage ?

There would be tons of articles on marriage and even more on arrange marriage v/s love marriage, so whatever i say here would already be covered in those countless material, but here is my perspective.

The topic of discussion here is Love Vs arranged marriage, so let us take the common point between these "marriage", The concept of marriage varies widely across the countries and cultures, but the underlying idea is similar. Interesting to note that the Vedas(Dated at ~3000Bc ) and their branches belonging to one of the most ancient civilizations also talk about the concept of marriage. Infact they list 7 types of marriages,In which arranged marriage ( bramha  way of marriage) and  Gandharva (love marriage) also lists, 5 other types of marriages listed are  not related to this post. Thus it shows that concept and types of marriages indeed has been a age old debate or merely a accepted way of life . In India Marriage is not only seen as a union between two individuals  but families.

Before going to the debate of love or arranged, there are two extremely meaningful procedure followed during any Hindu wedding, which captures the essence of elements needed for a successful marriage,

First one being the vow taken "Dharmecha Arthecha kamecha naaticharami" which means we shall stay together, abiding to the moral economical and vital laws, by consulting each other and not overlooking the wish of either one and we continue to grow. When the divorce rates have increased predominantly following this simple rule would do good not just for marriage but any relation ship, As not disucssing finances, moral priorities and desires would be main reason for any failed marriages.

Second one being the sapthapadi meaning 7 steps taken by the couple, where at the seventh step it is said "sakha saptapadi bhava" meaning At this 7th step we are friends, which opens a whole new world for the couple.

With this idea the debate of love vs arranged becomes simple

In love marriage the couple know each other for sometime, where the like each other for the qualities and individuality, this makes the chance of success high, but then love driven by infatuation would soon die down and when the equilibrium of DAK (Dharma-Artha-kama) is imablanced it simply crumbles.

In case of arranged marriage where parents try to find a suitable groom/bride, families are matched for the rightness rather than the two individuals, Although it seems a little outdated,  point to note here is, if people are from similar upbringing they more or less share common values thus chances of a successful marriage is high. But then considering a typical scenario of arranged marriage using a matrimony website where the matching is done on very few pre set criteria, such as looks build, annual salary and qualification,  no good comes out of it as everyone wants all the conditions met rather than considering how right is the person from different aspects of life.

Now if i am asked to give Advice, which is "one free thing that everyone gives in bulk wholeheartedly, even without asking",
It does not matter whether it is arranged or love marriage, if the other person is the one with whom it is easy to achieve equilibrium in terms of morality, financially and in your interests and desires go for it without thinking twice. Because there is no perfect person, It should be just that he or she is perfect for you.

While i conclude, I want to do with this very very interesting quote,
When a couple who celebrated  65 years of their married life, someone asked how did you manage and the reply was "We were born in the period, when if things broke they were fixed not replaced",
No couple are perfect, It is only talking about the differences and but trying to maintain the equilibrium of DAK  for perfect balance is key.

Note : This entry is for Indiblogger Love marriage ya arranged marriage! contest
www.facebook.com/LoveYaArrange.