Research into Shiva: The Enigma (Ancient Philosophy)

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The book is a culmination of the author's efforts to translate ancient works of literature such as the Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, Sthotrams, Mantras and Ashtakams in a different context. The standard translations of these works do not match his understanding of these verses and so he has based his work on word-to-word transliteration and converting these transliterations into semantically correct sentences. Further, he has changed word transliterations to have contextual meaning as opposed to using just a globally attributed meaning. For example, readers will be pleasantly surprised to read his translation and interpretation of the extremely powerful Gayatri Mantra.

The first thread of continuity that emerged for him when studying the various works of literature was related to Shiva. Following the thread of the various Tantras, Sthotrams and Mantras that were attributed to Shiva, it emerged that Shiva was not really the God that he was taught to believe, but in fact something totally and completely different. The concept of Shiva is tied very deeply to the existence of the environment of reality around us. The book follows the thread in these works of literature to find the path to understanding this environment of reality, to arrive at the answer for the question "What is Shiva?" and to lay down the implications, if what is claimed in these works of literature is true.

THE SCIENCE OF TRUTH

All known translations and understanding of the Vedas, Upanishads, Sthotrams, Ashtakams, or Mantras, consider these works of literatures to be the philosophical concepts and ideas of Hinduism. Hinduism by itself is considered to be a religion. The sorry state of affairs is that these works of literatures are considered to be a spiritual and ideological belief system. But, I beg to differ here. Yes, I agree, that over a period of time Hinduism has taken the form of fanatical religion (more so now), and transformed itself into a belief system. Infact I need to say, I cannot find "Hinduism" as a word, in these pieces of literature. It is definitely a word that has been coined over a period of time, in the very recent past, within the previous century, to attribute these works to some group or race of people. Hindus also is a coined word to represent a set of people from a certain region more specifically in India. Sure, there are references to Bharat or Bharatvarsh. Those are references to the land and the people of a land, nothing more. But, none of these works talk about God, people or religion. Infact they don't even talk about beliefs. The problem is, no one anymore understands or knows the core principles and concepts that were originally propounded by these works of literature. Hence they have been classified and cast into superstitious works of philosophy.

To take a simple example: Not all people, in fact it would be correct to say that only a handful of people in the current world, truly understand quantum physics and its concepts. If, over thousands of years the number of people studying quantum physics declines to zero, what remains after that are only the words with their meanings open to misinterpretation. Photons, bosons, neutrinos, electrons etc., become just a belief system since we cannot "sense" any of these. Having lost the knowledge of proving the existence and studying them, what they mean, can only be transferred by word of mouth. These words themselves invoke no inherent meaning within us. Any description written of these words is bound to be open to interpretation, as seen feasible. These are just acquired knowledge and unless transferred correctly can get lost in the sands of time.

Similarly, I believe, the concepts in the Vedas, Upanishads and other literature have been reduced to nothing or nonsensical in the sands of time. I agree, they do not talk about the same science as physics, quantum physics, chemistry and so on, but, science, indeed they are. Science need not always be the creation of what we call "technology" and "scientific knowledge." Technology need not always be that which enhances the luxury in human life. Technology is the practical use of "scientific knowledge" to enhance life. Life can be enhanced in many forms, not just with respect to comfort of matter. "Scientific knowledge" also need not always be that which understands the science of matter. In-fact matter is merely incidental in the whole scheme of things. Studying matter only helps us scratch the surface of the whole. Studying matter is like taking an equation for a simple harmonic motion, substituting specific values to 'x' and 't' and always staring at that one generated point and forming ideas around that point, instead of seeing the equation itself and seeing the variance based on the change in values of 'x' and 't.

Veda or Vedantam means knowledge. Knowledge cannot be obtained from philosophical beliefs. The question we need to ask ourselves is "what is the knowledge they are talking about?" There is infinite knowledge. Knowledge is that which is known inherently. Knowledge is not that which we call intelligence of this human form! Philosophical beliefs, logical deductions by the brain and such can only lead to intelligence or "concluded knowledge." This happens only because, we as humans have limited access to that infinite knowledge. Hence we are always seeking for proof for this concluded intelligence. This makes us intelligent beings as opposed to knowledgeable beings.