Description
Gyan Publishing House Lights on the Veda by Sastry T V Kapali
The author has delved deep into the India’s most ancient scripture Vedas to explore new avenues in the context of the Hindu religion. The Vedas are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism. There are four Vedas: the Rigveda, the Yajurveda, the Samaveda and the Atharvaveda. Each Veda has four subdivisions – the Samhitas (mantras and benedictions), the Aranyakas (text on rituals, ceremonies, sacrifices and symbolic-sacrifices), the Brahmanas (commentaries on rituals, ceremonies and sacrifices), and the Upanishads (texts discussing meditation, philosophy and spiritual knowledge). Some scholars add a fifth category – the Upasanas (worship).The texts of the Upanishads discuss ideas akin to the heterodox sramana-traditions. Vedas are śruti ("what is heard"), distinguishing them from other religious texts, which are called smṛti ("what is remembered"). Hindus consider the Vedas to be apauruṣeya, which means "not of a man, superhuman" and "impersonal, authorless,"revelations of sacred sounds and texts heard by ancient sages after intense meditation. About the author:-T.V. Kapali Sastry (1886 -- 1953) was an eminent Sanskrit scholar, author, translator and disciple of Sri Aurobindo. He received his early education at home in Sanskrit under the guidance of his father, who was a Sanskrit scholar at the Oriental Manuscripts Library in Madras. After completing his education, he became a Sanskrit teacher at a High School in Madras. At the age of twenty he came under the influence of Ganapati Muni, a prominent disciple of Ramana Maharshi and great scholar and poet, who passed on his vast knowledge and learning to him. The latter got deeply immersed in Vedic and Tantric studies and published books and articles in English, Tamil, Telugu and Sanskrit. The Title 'LIGHTS ON THE VEDA