QNA WITH SRI SRI

MONDAY, MARCH 28, 2016

Q: Could you talk about the Vedas and the aspects that they give this creation?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You know, the story about the Vedas is very interesting, it's a mythological story. Once a Rishi did a lot of penance, and so the Lord of creation appeared before him and he asked him, 'My dear, what do you want?' The Rishi said, 'Give me knowledge'. So Brahma showed him a huge mountain and said, 'This is knowledge, take as much as you can'.

So this sage went and he grabbed as much as he could, but he could grab only four handfuls of that mountain, and they say, that became the Vedas. So Vedas are infinite. It is said Ananthavai Veda (infinite is the knowledge).

So Rishi Veda Vyasa took a few handfuls of knowledge and organized it as four different aspects:

1.Rig Veda: pure knowledge

2.Yajur Veda: the applied science, all action oriented. It is all about karma (ritualistic aspect)

3.Sama Veda: all about love, devotion, music and singing

4.Atharva Veda: material sciences like Ayurveda, and about the knowledge of the stars, moon, planets and galaxies. All of this is present there.

So one is pure spiritual knowledge, another is action-oriented knowledge, another is music, and the fourth is material science.

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