What are 'Vedas' and 'Upanishads' and how will they help us understand this Reality?

Speaker A [00:00:00]:

This episode, we will understand what are the Vedas and Upanishads. So most of us have heard of these terms, but we do not truly understand what they are and what they represent. Let us broadly understand what Vedas are, what Upanishads are, and let us understand what is Advaita Vedanta. Vedas literally translate to knowledge. So Vedas represent the knowledge, and Vedas are said to be eternal and infinite, and many wonder how can a book be eternal and infinite. But when we say Vedas, it does not denote a mere book. Vedas represent something which is far beyond that. Vedas represent knowledge that is embedded or that is encoded at a different dimension, and Vedas exist beyond the physical dimension, and they are infinite and eternal.

Speaker A [00:01:06]:

Vedas within it has the knowledge of this entire reality and everything there is to this universe. For someone who is listening to this for the 1st time, it can be a little confusing to understand this. So let me explain it with a simple example. Now, we all are familiar with the Internet and how the World Wide Web works. So the Internet within itself has enormous amounts of knowledge and information, and it is accessible to everyone. Now imagine there is a tribe which is living in a small island just outside our city and they are not technologically evolved. They live in their own old ways and they do not have access to the Internet. And when we say they do not have access to the Internet and the information that is there within the Internet, we need to understand what we are saying here.

Speaker A [00:02:04]:

Of course, information is passing through us and passing around us, you know, and a lot of radio waves and different kinds of, frequencies and waves are passing through us. And a lot of information is embedded and encoded within these waves and frequencies. But they are not accessible to us because that tribe which is living far away from society in a forest, they do not have access to the right tools and technologies to access the Internet. If they could get hold of a laptop or a cell phone with a proper Internet connection, even they could access the information that is available on the Internet. So the information that is within the Internet is in a digital format, and only when we have the tools and technology to access that information and use that information when we be able to do that. Just like this, Vedas, which is the knowledge is at a different dimension. They exist at a different realm and a different dimension altogether. And the ancient rishis and yogis who worked on themselves and who through a lot of sadhana, through meditation, through yoga and various other methods, they were able to purify their minds and they were able to raise the frequency of their minds.

Speaker A [00:03:25]:

And through this, they were able to access the knowledge which is of that dimension, which are the Vedas. We can also put it in this way. The ancient Rishis of India worked on themselves and their mind so that they became compatible to receive the knowledge of the Vedas. And once they received that knowledge from that infinite ocean of the Vedas, they later on, you know, passed on that knowledge to the next generation so that it can help other people to understand the nature of reality and to live their lives in accordance with that knowledge. So this is how we need to understand the Vedas. Vedas are infinite and they are eternal. Nobody can destroy try it, nobody can conceive it in fullness, but all we can do is work on ourselves so that our system becomes compatible to receive that knowledge. And these Vedas are the foundation of Hinduism and the Sanatana Dharma.

Speaker A [00:04:28]:

Whatever we call as Hinduism today, is a consequence of that knowledge, which is the Vedas. And this is the significance of the Vedas. Upanishads are the final part of the Vedas. So Upanishads are also a part of the Vedas and they are the conclusions or the essential teaching of the Vedas. And they talk about philosophy hand about the nature of reality, and this is what we are interested in in this podcast. In the Advaita decoding reality podcast, our focus is to understand the nature of reality, to understand what this universe is, to understand who we are and what is our purpose in this magnificent universe and what is the point of everything? This is what we are focused on and Upanishads give us the answers to these questions. Now Vedas contain a broad range of knowledge. They encompass everything from rituals to cosmology to astrology and, Ayurveda, which deals in health care and different mantras, tantras, etcetera.

Speaker A [00:05:41]:

So Vedas cover a broad spectrum of knowledge about different aspects are about different subjects, but Upanishads are very specific. They get right to the point and they answer the philosophical questions about the nature of reality, about this universe. These are some of the common questions like, what is this universe about? What is God? Does God exist? Who created this universe, why are we here? What happens when we die? What is the nature of reality? How can we love a happy and fulfilled life? How can we come out of suffering? All of these fundamental questions that all of us have are directly answered by the Upanishads. Now this is the significance of Upanishads, and this is the most important teaching according to me. And I am in love with the Upanishads. Because throughout my life, I was trying to find answers to these questions and I had doubts about so many things in this universe. But once I started to understand what Upanishads are and once I started to listen to the teachings of Upanishads, everything started to make sense for me. At that point when I started to look at the Upanishads, I somehow something deep within me told me that this is the answer for the questions that you have.

Speaker A [00:07:07]:

Although I did not understand a lot about all these things then, something within me told me that this is the right direction and this is where you need to go. And so I started studying the Upanishads and, different teachings from different teachers like Sankaracharya, etcetera, to understand the nature of reality. And we will cover different aspects of this in the future episodes. Now Advaita Vedanta is just the direct and the most effective interpretation of the Vedas and Upanishads. Advaita simply means non dual, which means that this entire universe is just one which is expressed in infinite different ways. So we will look at the meaning of Advaita Vedanta and what Advaita Vedanta teaches us about the nature of reality in the next episode. Make sure to tune in for that. And if you are interested in these concepts, and if you want to go more deep into it, my new book, Decoding God, is available on Amazon in which I go into do different aspects of this universe and different ways in which we can understand the ultimate reality for God.

Speaker A [00:08:22]:

Thank you for tuning in, and I'll see you on the next episode.