by D T Lohith

Created on: February 03, 2007   Last Updated: April 17, 2007

The Hidden Meanings of Vedas
There are several beliefs regarding the origin or birth of Vedas. One belief is that God, the creator of the whole universe himself, gave this knowledge to human beings. Another belief is that the four vedas came from the four faces of 'Brahma', the creator, who originated from the navel of Lord Vishnu. Some scholars also say that the storehouse of knowledge existed from time immemorial, and the sage 'Krishnadvaipayana' (Maharshi Vyasa) categorised and classified the knowledge which was in a haphazard manner into four chapters, which were named as Rik, Yaju, Sama and Atharvana Vedas. Thereby sage Vyasa was given a name 'Veda Vyasa'.

Vedas are in a language, which is slightly different from the language 'Sanskrit'. This is called 'veda bhasha', or the language of the vedas. History says that there existed a language in olden days, called 'Praakritha', which was refined at one stage, and called 'sanskrit'. Infact, the word 'Samskrita', means 'refined'. It is logical to believe that the language Praakritha got refined over a period of time and evolved into 'samskrita'. Veda bhasha, or the language of vedas appears to be in a completely refined form of sanskrit, and also is in a well advanced poetic form, which are called 'slokas'.

Although some people strongly believe that the Vedas originated from God himself, it may be logical to believe that some intelligent human beings wrote them, at some time, and passed it on for the benefit of the later generations. Since it is in a very refined language and poetic style, one can also believe that it was written, or recorded, when the language was at its zenith of evolution.

There is a strong belief that each stanza or 'sloka' of Vedas, has three types of meaning. The first is 'Prathi padartha', or word to word meaning. Or, the face value of the words used in the slokas. The second being the 'Bhavartha', or the summary of the whole sloka. The third and the most important meaning is 'Goodartha', or the hidden meaning. Every one of the slokas has a hidden meaning which is entirely different from the apparent meaning and purpose. At this stage one starts thinking that the whole of veda is nothing but a coded knowledge, and unless one knows the de-coding process of the hymns, one will end up with the first two types of meanings only. Almost all books written so far on the meaning of Vedas cover the first two types of meaning only, leaving the goodartha untouched. The belief is that it is dangerous

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