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The Vedas were ancient Hindu scriptures in the form of mantras or hymns. They were the timeless and eternal religion, shruti (heard directly from the deities), and wisdom revealed through the inner spiritual experience of the seers and sages. The Rig, Sama, Yajur and Atharva Vedas each contained four sections: Sanhitas (the hymns), Brahmanas (prose explanations about the significance of the hymns), Aranyakas (interpretations of the hymns), and Upanishads, (metaphysical dialogs). The Hindu goddess Vac Aditi, a Hindu sacred cow progenitor goddess, was the original guardian of the Vedic spoken word. She was mentioned as the original creator of the four Vedas. Revered from about 1500 BCE until the present day, she was depicted in reliefs and sculptures either as a graceful woman attired in gold garments or as a cow. Vac was portrayed in ancient hymns as being the epitome of the quintessential soma sustenance of all truths and visions. Hindus believed that this immortal substance sparked Brahman Consiousness into full lotus blossom manifestation. Vac was a Pleiadian Shaman who relocated from Mars (Brighid) to Lemuria. She spent time in India as a benefactor and mentor before relocating to the Pleiades. Like so many other sacred texts, much of her earlier writings were distorted over the millenium. A protectress of animals, the earlier sacrificial rites involved ceremonies and pujas with flowers, fruits, incense, conches, and bells. There was a time when the Vedas included mention of animal sacrifice. Vac never wrote or spoke about rituals that involved suffering and bloodshed of animals. No benevolent, wise, or good deity would ever sanction, let alone request a ritual to be performed that included the slaughter of animals as a form of reverence or communion with divinity. Only bad karma results from such actions.
Oldest of the Hinduism
Vedas, 1200-900 BCE the Rig Veda was a collection of over 1,000 metrical
hymns that were meant to be recited loudly in poetic form. Divided into ten books, the Rig Veda contained the mythology of the Hindu goddesses and gods. The contents of the
Rig Veda also included blessings, praises, and puja type sacrificial
rites involving flowers, fruits, and incense.
The Hindu Yajur Veda contained knowledge about reverence, veneration, and how to perform the rites. Recited in a low voice, verses of the Yajur Veda described the sacrifcial formulas recited by the adhvaryu priests during the ceremony. The Sama Veda was comprised of cadenced liturgical verses from the Rig Veda sung by the udgatri chanters. The melodious Sama Veda hymns of praise were recited at sacrifices in order to destroy sin. The Atharva Veda contained the knowledge of the sage Atharvan. The verses of the final Veda were a mixture of poetry, daily guidance, and incantations. Overtime the hymns of this rishi, eventually became a ritual handbook for the Brahmans. The Puranas were an essential component of Hinduism, these elaborate short stories and narrations about popular concepts of divinity were composed in the local vernacular by poet saints to explain universal concepts such as the cycles of Braham, creation, Vishnu, preservation, and Shiva, dissolution. The Puranas also taught morals, Dharma, and Vedanta, and brought to light the human attributes of the divine. The Vedangas and the Upavedas were texts that were additions to the Vedas. The Six Vedangas were: Jyotisha, (astrology), Kalpa, (public rituals and domestic rites), and Siksa, Nirukti, Candas, and Vyakarana (mantra recitation, knowledge of phonetics, grammar and poetry). The Five Upavedas were: Artha, (statecraft), Dhanur (archery, warfare, and weapons), Sthapatya (architecture), Gandharva (dance, music, and theatre), and Ayurveda (health and medicine). The principle texts of the Hindu religion, the Upanishads, summarized the spiritual knowledge and commented on the philosophy of the Vedas. Based on meditations on Vedic themes, they were teachings and conversations between self realized souls and their students about universal knowledge, absolute truth, liberation, and experiential oneness with Brahman.
There were also supplements
to the scriptures like the sutras (Patanjali's Yoga Sutras),
Bhajans (devotional songs), Slokas (prayers and invocations), Arthashastra (treatises on politics and administration), and Smritis (works of
Hindu Law).
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