Veda is the mother of all mankind!

Human beings have freedom to perform actions or desist from doing. This freedom carries a certain kind of responsibility, associated with. For instance young men may consider ‘marriage’ as a kind of pleasure seeking, but they never foresee the responsibilities associated with care giving to the family as well as parenthood. Hence, it is common to find bachelors desiring for marriage, while married persons want to escape from family responsibilities.

Once, Sathya Saibaba has told a nice example. A man with two legs has freedom of movement. When he marries, the number of legs becomes four and the freedom of movement is hampered. When he begets children, the number of legs gets multiplied and at one stage, he becomes a centipede. At that stage only, the family man bemoans his loss of freedom. Hence his own actions decide the type of freedom he gets or loses.

Is there a way to secure ‘eternal freedom’ from the bonds we develop? Yes, we alone are responsible for the bonds we develop, and it is within our reach to escape from such bonds. This is termed as ‘relinquishing the attachments” .We have a list of things to relinquish. First of all, we should not crave for anything or any relationship in this mortal world! It is natural for us to lose our possessions or relationships one day or other since everything disintegrates with time. Time snatches anyone from the earth. Hence, we can never be sure of continuance of any relationships.

The relationship between a husband and wife has been explained nicely once by Sathya Sai baba. He said that the man and woman are like logs of wood, floating on the current of a river. By sheer force of the current, at some point of time, the logs of wood join in the midstream. After travelling together for some time, the same flow of water forces the log out and each log continues to flow alone along the current of the river. None can predict when they will be separated!

As human life is like a water bubble, the pleasures enjoyed by the individual through the senses are momentary, transient and fickle! Generations of people have enjoyed the fleeting pleasures and ultimately they realized that “nothing lasts in this ephemeral existence! This is the main reason for the discontent of many wise persons, who sought to find answers to the riddles of mortal life. They were searching for lasting bliss which could be obtained only in the realm of spirit. Hence, they retreaded to the thick forests or mountain caves to practice meditation on the supreme power. They practiced ‘penance’ for hundreds of years to find out the answers to the riddles of life.

After severe penance, they could get some revelations from the sky via mysterious sounds. Some sages absorbed those sounds and kept in their memories. Later, it was transmitted to their disciples and these sounds are known as “Veda’ chants. From those times, Veda chanting has been prevalent throughout India. Finding immortal truths and treasures of wisdom, many foreigners visited India and learned them and transcribed them in their native languages. Thus Max Muller has done yeoman service to many seekers in the West, by translating everything in German and other European languages.

In ancient time, the number of such Veda was countless. But, as the materialistic nature of man has increased, they lost count of such truths and at present we have four divisions of Veda in the name of Rik, Yajur,Sama and Atharvana! In various mutts of India, the tradition of Veda chanting continues from the ancient days. Nowadays, many schools teaching rituals are conducting Vedic classes for young students free of cost, in order to continue the ancient wisdom. Today, we find many foreign students are interested in Veda and Upanishads and they learn it from the experts. Even many online teaching courses are available on the net to learn Veda with correct pronunciation and tonal modifications. Long ago, Sathya Sai Baba has included the Vedic studies as part of the curriculum in the Sathya Sai University! All students, irrespective of their nationality or language learn the chants and they excel in chanting.

In most of the Indian temples, Veda chanting has become a regular ritual while the deity is bathed in milk, honey, curd and sandal paste. The chants create holy vibrations which disinfect the atmosphere of all falsehood and anger! It has become a tradition for devotees to sing the glory of god, while slowly moving around streets of a town which houses many residences. Those who wake up early will hear such holy sounds which will cleanse their hearts.

Whatever we utter reaches the atmosphere and creates favorable or unfavorable vibes. Hence, the wise elders chastise the youngsters when they utter lies or harsh angry words! The sky is holy and we should never pollute it with negative sound waves!