The Creator (Vedic Philosophy: From the Eyes of A Scientist)

 Preface

We go about our daily lives understanding almost nothing of this world. Each one of us lives in a small 'well' called the `area of expertise/profession'. The confines of this well do not allow us to progress from the physical to the metaphysical or from the material to the spiritual world. Those who do venture out and explore the metaphysical or spiritual world get baffled by the vastness of the great writings and, more often than not, fail to understand their true meaning.

Science has tried to explore our Universe from the material point of view. Religious philosophy explores the same Universe from a spiritual angle to answer certain basic questions which arise in agile minds and that science has never attempted to answer. Some of such questions include: Who created this Universe? Why was the Universe created as it exists now? What is life? How is life created? Where does one come from and where does he go after the end of his physical life? Is there a life cycle? What is the relevance of Personal (idol worship) and Non-Personal (Omnipresent) God? Why are there multiple forms of worship and different religions? What is secularism? Why does religion exist? At a philosophic level, all religions propound almost similar answers to these questions.

Vedic doctrine evolved several millennia ago and all the Vedic texts in the form of Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas, Brahma Sutra, Geeta, etc., were compiled in Sanskrit. Over the years, neither did Sanskrit remain the language for mass learning nor could scripture-based learning find a place in the general curriculum of education. As a result, the masses got completely detached from the study of the scriptures. The profound knowledge presented in these scriptures thus remained confined to a few religious thinkers only.

Further, most people could not even get a chance to read or even see the Vedas. They satisfied themselves partially with limited exposure to a few of the secondary texts and listening to Vedic discourse. Those with evolved faculty of discrimination do attempt to get into this field but find it too vast and complex to continue their exploration of this divine knowledge in the absence of an understanding of certain basic concepts.

The present text aims at giving the seekers of this divine knowledge a feel of the basic concepts and a summary of the various scriptures of the Vedic Doctrine designed to facilitate their deeper exploration of this field. The themes and the thoughts are developed sequentially; from the Creation to Creator to individual human life, human life requiring the support of a religion for achieving happiness in life and salvation at the end of life. This comprehensive but precise summary of the essential aspects of Hinduism has been presented in this book in a capsule form without compromising on the great spirit of Vedic tradition and literature.