vedabhASya - Vedic Studies

  pathaam vaasal means the one with paththu vaasal (ten doors). Our 'self' has ten entry/exit points in this manifest world. Our 'self' is like a street with ten doors. They are the five indriyas with which it processes information (sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch) and five indriyas with which it executes functions (work using hands, motion using legs, speech using mouth, recreation using genitals, metabolism using digestive and respiratory systems). But the 'self' in itself is a door to the consciousness behind (though it is like a street with ten doors to the manifest world). The principle behind this is, from that consciousness rises the 'self' that exists in all life-forms and separates them from non-living. But that consciousness is just a witness to the self. It does not interact with the self. The self cannot see the consciousness. This witnessing consciousness is called purusha, the avyaya sAksi (eternal witness). Thus the manifest 'self...

Understanding animal signs was an ancient science. In those days people lived in very close quarters with animals, both domesticated and wild. Hence they had opportunity to understand the animal signs clearly and related it to understanding the environment better. For eg. when does dragonfly fly a lot..? when there's a lot of moisture in air and about to rain. So simple. When lizards make sound, they do either to avoid fighting or for courtship. In either case they are asking for their acceptance. So when people say something and lizard makes sound, people mis-interpret it as acceptance. lizards make sound asking for acceptance. We also had various beliefs in the past based on our environment at that time. You are not supposed to hit on top of the head (it means you are unprotected and face death). You are not supposed to wave off with your right hand (lakshmi will leave you), but you can do so with left hand or left foot (poverty leaves you). You are not supposed to hit your chest...

There's an asana called savasana or yoga nidra which anyone can do. A trainer, by using verbal cues, repetition, imagery etc heightens the concentration and focus of participants. This relaxes them and makes them amenable to suggestions  from the trainer.  This is how hynposis also works. An alternative to this technique is used in rural india today. In a dark room lit with few lamps,  with pictures in brilliant red (long wavelength) colors and with certain sounds, priests shift individuals into a high concentration and focus state and make the person before them to do what they want.  Many swamijis/gurujis help their disciples arrive at the same concentration and focus (leading to mind relaxation) by combination of their voice, music, room settings, chants, decor etc etc.. The above techniques were used for long times as a cure to psychotic disorders by relaxing the patients (like how hypnosis is used today as an augmented clinical therapy). In many cases of depress...

saMkhya (based on the saMkhya kArika of Iswara krishna) design pattern has 24 elements excluding the purusha. Basically it's a design pattern for evolution in matter and consciousness domain. The design pattern is "A detached observer drives the evolution of the evolute". Observer is purusa. evolute is prakrti.  For eg we define a parameter called 'energy' which is abstract, but which is known through its effects such as mass, heat, motion etc. we attribute one cause called 'energy' to all these effects, because they are transformable between each other. We say they express the same 'energy'.  The abstract energy is the 'puruSa' the observer.  All the matter and biological forms are the prakrti, the evolute. Same way we define a parameter called 'consciousness' which is abstract, but which is known through its effects such as signaling, growth, death etc,  We attribute one cause called 'consciousness' to all these effects, b...

Philosophy comes up when science is in-adequate. They are just part of the same circle. Humans have been observing and explaining various natural phenomena due to their 'intellect'. They see patterns that repeat and use that in their daily life. Probably everything was philosophical at the start. As the human capabilities improved, things that get defined, measured and predicted very well, pass onto the realm of science. The rest is termed philosophy. As the light of knowledge (various types of jnAna) illuminates the circle more and more, the definition, measurement, predictability becomes more and more, and those parts pass into realm of science (vi-jnAna - that we certainly know) from philosophy (saMjnana, sajjnana etc - the whole or true knowledge). As vaidika maarg got interpreted into a life of pure rituals, siddhartha started questioning it and came up with shunya tattva, saying there's nothing (shunya) beyond this life and human life is result of our own karma. With ...

Agnihotram rAmAnuja tattacharyar’s book ‘Hindu matham enge pogirathu’ was discussed in U2Brutus channel. The idea it propagated was in a vedic marriage ceremony, the priest wants to have a sexual relationship with the bride.. First point is in his book Agnihotram rAmAnuja tattacharyar highlighted how priests who have no idea of the meaning of mantras blabber something and used the Rg veda Mandala 10 Hymn 85 verse 37 as an example. Rgveda Mandala 10 hymn 85 talks about savitar sending his daughter surya as bride to soma, in the ‘car’ of asvin, with asvin as the bridesmen and this marriage of soma and surya producing all the beings of the earth, resting on the ‘dharma’. In science we can visualize it as Sun, a Main sequence star (savitar) emitting its solar energy (surya) transported through the electromagnetic field (asvin), which reaches the moon (soma), whose reflection on the earth, produces all the beings of the earth, based on the laws of the Universe (dharma). In some grhya sutras...

Dao or Tao is an ancient chinese philosophy, which means 'path', but which actually indicates the underlying law and order of the Universe. It's like 'Rta' (rhythm/order) and 'dharma' (law) of this Universe. The philosophy says one must live in accordance Dao (rta /order and dharma/law which is the nature of Universe). To live like that, one must detach from the desires that spur human action and align actions to the underlying Dao (nature) of the Universe (the rta and dharma). How similar is Dao to vedantic thoughts..? 1. Dao/Tao is about detachment (human desire) to make humans act in sync with Dao/Tao with the belief that spontaneity or natural human action is the best to live in sync with Dao/Tao. 2. Vedantic thought is also about detachment from one’s own ‘self’ which appears similar to Dao/Tao. But that detachment from ‘self’ is to observe like a witness or sAksi, our ‘self’ and all other ‘self’. This detached witnessing of our thoughts and actions as ...