Evolution of Love 2

Vedas

THE 6 LAYERS............
Many may speak of Vedas but few know what it really is and the many layers it consists of . Discussions are going on about Ayodya and Rama without even knowing the basics. So some elaboration for biginers and explorers.
VEDAS..This is the base on which all else stands. It consists of 20,000 odd Mantras which were collected by highly evolved Rishi's Today we know the universe is full of vibrations. The rishi's who heard a mantra would share it as they were heard. There were both male and female Rishis. There were then organised by and put into four lots by Veda Vyasa. The Rig Veda is in metrical form ., The Yajur Veda in prose form and Sam'a Veda in musical form while Atharva Veda was mostly collected by Athwarvaha Rishi and Angnirasa The mantras cannot be understood directly so we come the next layer. The Vedas are considered revelations
SUTRAS.... These are ophorisms. The statements are cryptic and ideas are in a capsule form. Like Patajalis Yoga Sutras.Here the Vedic teaching is codified and classified. Topical classification is done say Dharma Sutras or yoga Sutras. These are results of human effort and contain name of Rishi. The content is Vedas but the explanation is of a human.
All these can be memorised .as here are many many sutras available as per classification
SMIRITI...Further elaboration takes place here. They codified classified and we'll arranged. These are all in form of poems for easy memorization.What is implicit is made explicit. There would be a section on cosmology or goals of life. Etc. Here too content is divine but the composition is human.
PURANAS... Means ancient but not obsolete. This is further expanded form. If smritis are 1 is to 10 expansion puranas is one is to 100 or more Here too codification and classification takes place. Just the concept of Truth is expanded into thousands of verses in Haishchanra purana A moving story of how a man stood up for this one value. Bhagavatam is also a purana.. Ramayana can also be considered a purana..These are all worth reading. Villager learn these thousands of verses by heart. There are 18 such puranas in addition to another 18 upa puranas. Each poignant and making the Vedas available to people in a more understandable way
ITHIHASA....History based literature ... It means .. In this way it doublesly occurred...Ramayana consisting of 24 thousand verses and Mahabharata consisting of one hundred thousand verses are examples of ithihasas.They cannot be compared with epics of the Greeks. The ithihasa are like a holywood movies who take true stories and add some fiction to it for the audience to enjoy. Similarly ithihasa has history mixed with fiction and symbolism .The main purpose is to expound the Vedas to the masses.. This indians themselves are not aware.
BHASYAS... These are commentries on all the above forms of knowledge. A bhasya on one vedanta can run into thousands of verses A commentary may have sun commentary and a sub commentary can can still another. This is vast amount of Vedic literature which cannot be mastered in many lifetimes......

This then is vedic culture. There is no concept of a Hindu culture. There is no concept of India. This is the culture that has sustained years for thousands of years.. It is meant for every human being not just Hindus.