Veda Dharma For Cognizant World

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VEDA DHARMA FOR COGNIZANT MIND is a book, intended neither to hurt anybody's feelings nor to attack or undermine any faith or belief, neither to eulogise a particular path or philosophy nor to condemn my. It is a quest of the amazing impact of a popular, secular, and truly rational thought and approach to human life professed by over one fifth of the current world population. It is for serious study of the more secular, rational and cogent west. accomplished and ignited with the tools of modern science. also known for not acquiescing to and accepting anything irrational and without logic. There are scholars who made deep study of various civilizations and living religions of the worldChristianity, Islam or Buddhism, and find Vedic Culture profoundly scientific. holistic and comprehensive in every sense. They say that it is not a religion or just a spiritual path but a complete philosophy of lifeboth spiritual and seculardistinctly backed by logic and rationale and founded on laws of nature or natural science. Verily, it is time to actually define as to who is a true Hindu in practical sense. A Hindu is one who believes in pure knowledge (jyana) of the cosmic laws and how they influence his day today life. He always prefers to test anything and everything on the touchstone of Shruti/ Vedas, considered authentic in all matters. Anything against the cosmic cycle (shristi chakra) is not acceptable to a true Hindu. To him all rituals professed and performed by less knowing pundits are superficial, unimportant and uncalled for. These pundits have created business centers to misguide the credulous and gullible people for their personal gains. Such things, however, don't make sense to the cogent and wise. With this kind of definition anybody living in any part of the world is a Hindu irrespective of color of skin, creed, dress code and life style so long as he professes and believes in the fundamental tenets of Hindu philosophy like, not harming any being (ahimsa), truth (satya), not grabing anybody else's wealth and earnings (asteya), complete sense of celibacy and caring love for mankind (brahmacharya) and non-hoarding of essential items (aparigriha)hoarding of essential items is considered a social evil in true Hindu way of life. And also observes shining cleaniness and perfect tidiness(shoucha), sense of full satisfaction and contentment (santosha), works hard to earn his living by fair means (tapah), believes in self contemplation/ self study (swadhyaya) and does not hanker after results of his noble deeds (Ishwarapranidhana)tenets of social development, personal growth and tidiness. In letter and spirit he believes from the depth of his conscious heart in the age old philosophy of 'Live and let live'. Would any conscious person anywhere in the world shall ever deny these basic human values.

Mr. J Agarwal a keen researcher and proficient writer on theology and Vedic Sciences. He has written three more books earlier, published by Pushtak Mahal New Delhi and available on Amazon. He is a retired Chief Engineer of UP Irrigation Department, retiree of 1996. Ever since he has devoted his time and energy to the study and practice of Vedas and Yoga sciences. He has been pursuing his Yoga teachings in India and abroad for long time. Verily, through Yoga his mission has been the propagation of Vedas and bringing people into the Vedic fold once again. This has led him to the formal study of Vedas and other Vedic literature to understand the basic foundation of various religious beliefs in India and elsewhere including development of spiritual philosophy from Vedic times down to Rishi Dayananda Saraswati of twentieth century. The present book is a result of his untiring efforts over the past two decades towards propagation of Vedas across the world.

VEDA DHARMA FOR COGNIZANT MIND is a book, intended neither to hurt anybody's feelings nor to attack or undermine any faith or belief, neither to eulogise a particular path or philosophy nor to condemn my. It is a quest of the amazing impact of a popular, secular, and truly rational thought and approach to human life professed by over one fifth of the current world population. It is for serious study of the more secular, rational and cogent west. accomplished and ignited with the tools of modern science. also known for not acquiescing to and accepting anything irrational and without logic. There are scholars who made deep study of various civilizations and living religions of the worldChristianity, Islam or Buddhism, and find Vedic Culture profoundly scientific. holistic and comprehensive in every sense. They say that it is not a religion or just a spiritual path but a complete philosophy of lifeboth spiritual and seculardistinctly backed by logic and rationale and founded on laws of nature or natural science. Verily, it is time to actually define as to who is a true Hindu in practical sense. A Hindu is one who believes in pure knowledge (jyana) of the cosmic laws and how they influence his day today life. He always prefers to test anything and everything on the touchstone of Shruti/ Vedas, considered authentic in all matters. Anything against the cosmic cycle (shristi chakra) is not acceptable to a true Hindu. To him all rituals professed and performed by less knowing pundits are superficial, unimportant and uncalled for. These pundits have created business centers to misguide the credulous and gullible people for their personal gains. Such things, however, don't make sense to the cogent and wise. With this kind of definition anybody living in any part of the world is a Hindu irrespective of color of skin, creed, dress code and life style so long as he professes and believes in the fundamental tenets of Hindu philosophy like, not harming any being (ahimsa), truth (satya), not grabing anybody else's wealth and earnings (asteya), complete sense of celibacy and caring love for mankind (brahmacharya) and non-hoarding of essential items (aparigriha)hoarding of essential items is considered a social evil in true Hindu way of life. And also observes shining cleaniness and perfect tidiness(shoucha), sense of full satisfaction and contentment (santosha), works hard to earn his living by fair means (tapah), believes in self contemplation/ self study (swadhyaya) and does not hanker after results of his noble deeds (Ishwarapranidhana)tenets of social development, personal growth and tidiness. In letter and spirit he believes from the depth of his conscious heart in the age old philosophy of 'Live and let live'. Would any conscious person anywhere in the world shall ever deny these basic human values. Actually, the word 'religious' is a misnomer and non-essential for it smacks of sectarianism. Instead it would be appropriate to substitute it simply by the word SPIRITUALITY. We are all Hindus now', writes Lisa Miller, Region Editor, in News Week of the US (August 24-31, 2009). Here are some excerpts: America was founded as a Christian nation some five hundred years ago. Today, according to a survey, 76 per cent of the people living there continue to identify them as Christian, the lowest percentage in American history as of now. Today a million a half-plus Hindus, a small fraction of more than the billion who inhabit the Earth, also live there. But conceptually, a recent data show, they are slowly leaning towards Hinduism or living more like Hindus than like a traditional Christian. Their concept of God, soul, and matter has radically changed. They read the Vedas and other Hindu scriptures and appreciate their rationality. The Rigveda says, 'the truth is one, but the sages describe it in many ways and by many names.' But the traditional Christian never agreed with it, he thinks that whatever is taught in Sunday church is true religion and all others are false-no one can go to the father (God) except through their well-known channel of him (the Christ) alone. But most Americans refuse to buy this any longer. It is also a fact that Americans change their faith often, and early in life. Catholicism has suffered the greatest blow in the process. Most of them have stopped believing in its teachings. The PEW Forum survey (2008) says that 65 percent of them now believe that 'many religions can lead to eternal life', including 37 percent of white evangelical group that most likely believed that salvation is exclusive to them. Now 30 percent of Americans call themselves 'spiritual not religious', according to News Week Poll of 2009- up from 24 percent in 2005. On the question of what happens after death, a Christian traditionally believes that bodies and souls are sacred, and integral part of the 'self', and that at the end of time they unite again in `Resurrection'. According to them both are perpetually together and can't be separated for long. Judaism and Islam also believe likewise. Hindus don't believe in any such thing-on death the body that is made up of matter, is burnt/perishes, the soul escapes to reincarnate in different home/body. This is another way where Americans and the West are becoming more Hindus-24 percent Americans say they believe in reincarnation of soul (Harris Poll 2008). On the question of burying the dead bodies, more and more traditional Christians chose to cremate by burning the dead in the Hindu line of thinking now -according to Cremation Association of North America. the figure is up by 6 percent over 1975. Wendell Thomas in his book 'Hinduism invades America (1930)' wrote: In the imagination of the great majority of Americans, foreign (Hindu) missions have been an altogether one-sided affair. Taking for granted the superiority of Christianity, they have pictured the Christian movement as going out to overspread the world. To thoughtful minds, it has long been obvious that there would soon come a time when the great Eastern religions, sure of the superiority of their spiritual character over the mechanized living of the Western world, would come to us with the deep conviction that they were the heralds of the world's true gospel. What Mr. Haery Emerson Fosdick while writing Introduction to the above famous work very pertinently noted: Mr. Thomas's book, so far as I know, is the first thoroughgoing treatise, setting forth with patient research both the direct and the indirect invasion of Western thought by Hinduism. The book makes clear, what it has long been evident would sometime be inevitable, that there can no longer be a sharp distinction between the so-called "home" and "foreign" fields in religion. Christianity is at work in India and Hinduism is at work in the United States. Vedic Culture and Hindu way of life began taking roots in the United States of America with the coming of Christian settlers themselves from Europe to the new world. They brought the aroma of Hindu feelings and sentiments in both Catholic as well as Protestant Christian dispensations- especially because of the students and teachers studying Emerson, Plotinus (Greek)'s philosophy, Baruch de Spinoza's ethics, and Roman Saint Thomas Aquinas. After the end of the Civil War in the United States of America (1861-65) a kind of intellectual movement invaded the US and took roots. Thinkers and writers like, R W Emerson (1803-1882), Henry D Thoreau, James F Clark, teacher and philosopher AB Alcott, Margaret Fuller and others are some of the names whose writings were profoundly influenced by Sanskrit literature from India-the most significant being the Bhagavat gita, Upanishads, Manusmriti and excerpts from the Vedas. About Vedic Culture Henry D Thoreau observed, "What extracts from the Vedas I have read fall on me like the light of a higher and purer luminary, which describes a loftier course through a purer stratum," And in 1850 he remarked, "The religion and philosophy of the Hebrews are those of a wilder and ruder tribe, wanting the civility and intellectual refinements and subtlety of Vedic culture." The American Oriental Society was founded in 1842 by Edward Salisbury (1814-1901) who later taught at Yale University. He was the pioneer Sanskrit scholar who had all praise for the Vedas and Vedism. Fitzed Ward (1825-1901) was another early Sanskrit student who later left for India to study further and become a professor of Sanskrit at Banaras. Another Salisbury's snident at Yale, William D Whitney (1827-1901) later studied in Berlin under luminaries like Bopp and Weber and became Professor of Sanskrit in Yale in 1854. The arrival of Hindu Swamis and yogis towards the late 1800s and early 1900s, further appended their share to the glory of Hindu ethos. With this, without venturing into more such details, let us focus On the rational facts, doctrines and tenets of the Hindu way of life to reinforce the West's mind of the interminable and perpetual nature of ancient (Sanatan) Hindu Way of Life. **Contents and Sample Pages**