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honor the gods) is the design of perfect spaces that will nurture the human soul, which, again, is a part of the Essence of the Supreme Creative Force. |
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The Vedic Culture: When Did It Begin? |
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There is great debate about the dates of the culture that worshipped the Vedas and practiced the Vedic philosophy and way of life. Until recently it was believed that the Vedic culture developed around 2500 BC. But in recent decades, scholars have been examining previously overlooked or discounted geographic and time-related references in the collection of hymns called the Rig-Veda, the most important of the four sacred Vedas, as well as reassessing findings from archaeological sites. Some scholars now put the date much earlier'as early as 6000 BC.6 |
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Besides the conflict over the dates, Hindus also believe that the Vedas have no authorship and no beginning or end. One great book on the Vedas explains that the Vedas are the coexisting breath of the Paramaatma, the unmanifested soul of the Supreme Creative Force or Brahman. The manifested Supreme Creative Force, which has no beginning or end, remains in a state of perpetual existence. The perpetual existence also extends to the Vedas, the life-sustaining breath of the Supreme Creative Force. Neither one created the other. They co-exist and their co-existence is eternal.7 |
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Many Hindu myths speak of the "arrival" of the Vedas. But myths, as we know, are parables created as assessable interpretations of metaphysical beliefs. They are stories in which any reference can be historic fact or fiction. One popular myth states that the Vedas actually guided the manifested form of Brahman or the Supreme Creator, the Hindu Lord Brahma, in his creation of the universe. After Lord Brahma finished his task, he rested a few |
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6 See David Frawley, Gods, Sages and Kings: Vedic Secrets of Ancient Civilization (Salt Lake City: Passage Press, 1991). |
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7 Sri Chandrasekharendra Sawaswati, The Vedas (Mumbai: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Sudakshina Trust, 1998). |
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