WHAT ARE THE VEDAS? Part 1

There will be a series of post with the same post-image and the title will be preceed with Part 1, Part 2 and so on.

Madhva, one of the principal teachers of Vedic philosophy, commenting on the Vedanta-sutra (2.1.6), quotes the Bhavisya Purana as follows: “The Rg Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda, Atharva Veda, Mahabharata [which includes the Bhagavad-gita Pancaratra, and the original Ramayana are all considered Vedic literature.  The Vaisnava supplements, the Puranas, are also Vedic literature. We may also include corollary literatures like the Samhitas, as well as the commentaries of the great teachers who have guided the course of Vedic thought for centuries.”   Some scholars say that only the original four Vedas-Rg, Atharva, Yajur, and Sama-are genuine Vedic literatures. The Vedas themselves, however, do not support this view, nor do the most prominent Vedic teachers, including Sankara, Ramanuja, and Madhva. The Chandogya Upanishads (7.1.4) mentions the Puranas and Itihasas, which are generally known as histories, as the fifth Veda.  And Bhagavata Purana (1.4.20) confirms,  “The historical facts and authentic stories mentioned in the Puranas are called the fifth Veda.”  In any case, to be accepted as Vedic, a literature must maintain the same purpose as the original Vedic texts. The Vedic scriptures (sastras) comprise a harmonious whole with a harmonious conclusion (siddhanta). Consequently, we may accept as a bona fide Vedic writing any work that expands on the Vedic siddhanta without changing its meaning, even if the work is not one of the original scriptures. In fact, the Vedic tradition necessitates further authoritative works that convey the Vedic message according to time and place. However, to be genuine, these extensions of Vedic literature must strictly conform to the doctrines of the Vedas, the Puranas, and the Vedanta-sutra. Vedic literature is neither dead nor archaic. Nevertheless, any literature-be it ancient or modern-must be considered non-Vedic if it deviates from the Vedic siddhanta Thus Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, though definitely outgrowths of Vedic literature, are not considered Vedic. Even the conception of Hinduism is alien to the Vedic conclusion, as we shall see in later posts. The Vedic scriptures are vast in scope. The Rg Veda alone contains 1,017 hymns, the Mahabharata consists of 110,000 couplets, and the eighteen chief Puranas contain hundreds of thousands of verses. We may ask, "Why do these writings exist? Where did they come from? Who wrote them?   

Continued in Part 2  The Purpose of the Vedic Literature.