Arrangement of the Vedic Corpus in brief by A lover of Ancient wisdom

·       The Samhitas are the most ancient part of the Vedas, consisting of hymns of praise to many manifestations of the Supreme.

·       The Brahmanas are the commentaries on the hymns of the four Vedas.

·       The Aranyakas constitute philosophy underlying the ritual sacrifices prescribed in the Vedas.

·       The Upanishads consist of the mystical and philosophical teachings of Vedic corpus; the Soul of the Vedas, called Vedanta.

Upa-Vedas

Upa-Vedas are applied knowledge. Each Upa-Veda is associated with one of the four Vedas. There are four Upa-Vedas: 

·      Dhanurveda : Warfare, associated with Rig Veda

·      Sthapatyaveda: Associated with Yajur Veda: Designing homes, buildings, cities, villages in harmony with flow of dynamic energies of nature.

·      Gandharva Veda : Music and dance associated with Sama Veda

·      Ayurveda: Associated with Atharva Veda; the science of healthy living through entire life span.

Vedangas

Veda-angas mean ‘Limbs of the Vedas.’ They are the six auxiliary disciplines associated with the study and understanding of the Vedas. They are:

·      Phonetics : Siksha

·      Metrical speech or metres : Chandas

·      Grammer : Vyakrana

·      Etymology and linguistics : Nirukta

·      Rituals and rites of passage : Kalpa

·      Time keeping and Astronomy  Jyotisha 

Parista

They are supplement and appendix attached to each of the 4 Vedas and their auxiliaries dealing mainly with details of ritual and elaborations of texts in logical and chronological order.

The six Schools of Indian Philosophy Shad-darshanas)

Darshana means demonstration or proof. The six schools of Indian philosophy are the six viewpoints or approaches to apprehend Truth or Reality. The six schools admit the authority and validity of the Vedas. They postulate Individual Soul (Purusha) and Primordia Matter (Prakriti). Hence they are classified under the head astika. There are other schools of philosophy which do not accept Vedas and, therefore, classed under nastika schools. They are Buddhism, Carvaka, Jainism, and Ajivika schools. The six astika schools are:

1.   Sankhya :

Sage Kapila is said to be the founder of this school. It is a very old system which is accepted by Vedanta and its system pervades literature of ancient India. It admits two ultimate realities, namely, Spirit and Mater (Purusha and Prakriti). They are independent factors, yet mutually interdependent. It postulates Universal Soul or Eternal Cosmic Intelligence (called Mahat), on the one hand, and Pre-cosmic Substance, called Prakriti, consisting of three qualities—quiescence, action, and inertia, on the other. 

Evolution of the worlds and the principle of Soul, or Egoism, of mind, of the senses, of subtle elements, of gross elements and of the  deities presiding over senses and faculties are propounded, over which Spirit (Purusha) presides; soul’s bondage in matter due to its self-identifying attachment to the experiences of life made of the three qualities, threefold misery to which the embodied Soul is subject, and manner and method of its liberation and enlightenment, are taught in the Sankhya doctrine.

2.   Yoga

The Yoga doctrine is propounded by the Sage Patanjali. The word Yoga literally means Union—spiritual union of Individual Soul with the Universal Soul. Yoga of Patanjali is the practical moral, mental and spiritual exercise to realize the principles expounded in Sankhya. 

Hence, Sankhya and Yoga are twin doctrines, and closely allied. The Samkhya emphasises attainment of knowledge by means of study, concentration and meditation. Yoga presents a practical path for the realization of the Self. Practice of Yoga requires a study of Sankhya.

Yoga includes moral restraints, total and absolute restraint of mental functions, and awakening of spiritual discrimination, called Viveka. With this restraint the mind empties itself of all contents, becomes free from the trammels of the senses, and thus the Soul frees itself from bondage to desires and passions, and attain to liberation, called Kaivalya.

3.   Nyaya

The system of Nyaya was founded by the Sage Gautama. It is a realistic philosophy based mainly on logic and reason. It admits of four separate sources of knowledge: Perception, inference, comparison, and testimony. According to Nyaya doctrine the objects of knowledge are the self, the body, the senses and their objects, cognition, mind, activity, mental defects, rebirth, the feeling of pleasure and pain, suffering, and freedom from suffering (liberation). The Nyaya seeks to deliver the self from its bondage to the body, the senses and their objects. Existence of God is proved by Nyaya by several arguments. God is the ultimate cause of creation, maintenance, and destruction of the world out of eternal atoms, space, time, ether, minds and souls.

4.   Vaisesika

The School of Vaisesika was founded by the Sage Kanada. This school is allied to the school of Nyaya, and both have one object, which is liberation of soul from bondage.

It postulates that the world is composed of seven categories, viz., Substance, quality (guna), action (Karma), generality (Samanya), particularity (Visesa), the relation of inherence (samavaya), and non-existence (abhava) 

Substance is the substratum of qualities and activities, but is different from both. A quality is that which exists in a substance and has in itself no quality or activity. An action is a movement. Particularity is the ground of the ultimate differences of things. Inherence is the permanent or eternal relation by which a whole is in its parts.  A quality or an action is in a substance. The universal is in the particulars. Non-existence stands for all negative facts. With regard to God and liberation of the individual soul the Vaisesika School is substantially the same as that of the Nyaya.

5.   Purva Mimamsa (or Karma Mimasa) 

Mimamsa means “reflection” or “critical investigation.” The purva or earlier Mimamsa School was founded by the Sage Jaimini. Mimasa developed from the ritualistic aspect of the Vedas. It gives a methodology of interpretation with which complicated Vedic injunctions regarding Vedic rituals can be understood. It provides a philosophical justification of the beliefs on which ritualism depends.

Faith underlying Vedic ritualism is substantiated by Mimamsa in the following way:

·      Belief in the existence of soul which survives death and enjoys the fruits of the rituals in heaven.

·      Belief in some power or potency which preserves the effects of the rituals performed.

·      Belief in the infallibility of the Vedas.

·      Our life and actions are real and not dreams. 

The Mimamsa is interested in interpreting the Vedas. It discusses the nature and validity of knowledge, criterion of truth and of falsity, sources of valid knowledge, etc. Details are not gone into in this short article.

Mimamsa accepts the argument of Vedanta as regards the existence of soul. Jaimini distinguishes the self from the understanding and the senses. The self is neither the body, nor the senses nor even the intellect. It is the Cognizer—“Known by itself and incapable of being seen or shown by others,” said Dr. S. Radhakrishnan. Mimamsikas accept the plurality of selves in order to account for variety of experiences. 

6.   Uttara Mimasa (Jnana Mimamsa) or Vedanta

Founded by Badarayana or Veda Vyasa, Uttara Mimamsa is the Vedanta, one of the most significant of all Indian philosophies. Upanishads are the concluding portion of the Vedas, and hence called Ved-anta, meaning the end of knowledge. They expound the supreme philosophical knowledge and wisdom.

To be continued

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