Abstract points to remember

Vedas are the base of all Indian knowledge.

None knows exactly when they were composed so they are known as

anaadi.

None knows who composed them so it is apourusheya.

They were composed by hundreds Vedic Rushies who were known as manthra dhrushtaatra (those who could see and experience the manthras).

Krishnadwaipayana Veda vyasa compiled them into four Vedas.

The first Veda shows jnaana marga known as Rig Veda. Second Veda shows karma marga known as Yajurveda. The third Veda guides to the base of arts and music known as Sama Veda and the mantras of the fourth one inform us about common (man’s) subjects known as Atharva veda.

Brahamanas are the literature, which discuss mainly the Yagas and Yajnaas. They also include variety of historical facts and truths. All the four Vedas have brahmanas. Satha patha brahmana, Prouda brahmana, Shadvimsath brahmana and Gopatha brahmana are the treasury of knowledge about ancient India.

In the Vedic literature, after the brahmanas come the Aranyakas which discuss about the philosophical aspects of life and the rituals to be performed during sanyasa and vanaprastha asrama.

We have to go through the commentaries for understanding the Vedas, Brahmanas and Aranyakas.

Every word, every line and every mantra has variety of meaning and what we understand in the first step of reading may not be the real message. Many non-Indians have written commentaries in olden times. They were primarily aiming at confusing Indian mind but present day writings are good.

Try to understand the Vedic literature with the help of books and commentaries written by Indian scholars who do have the knowledge and spirit of the culture of this country. Merely understanding the meaning of the Vedic literature using modern Sanskrit dictionary may not give us what really needed/expected.

Upanishads are the essence of Vedas and Vedic messages. They are vedanthas, which comes as the fourth part in the Vedic literature. Understanding them takes time and need patience. Still it is good to understand and worth using the message in our day to life to make the life worth living. The Eesaavasya Upanishad is one of the great Upanishads among all the other Upanishads.