Vedas are the most ancient scriptures known to us today. They are not just religious texts but are storehouses of vast knowledge, both worldly as well as spiritual. However, these voluminous texts are shrouded in mystery that seem to be unresolvable. This book tries to unravel some of these mysteries and throws lot of light on often misunderstood aspects of these scriptures. This is the first part of the series “Unsolved mysteries”. Table of Contents On a breath-taking journey into the Himalayas Vedas – The unsolved puzzle of ancient India! Chapter 1. Who really composed the Vedas? Did some barbaric nomads compose the Vedas? A King who bartered the youth with his son! Story of white Veda and black Veda! Putting the pieces of the puzzle together Story of ShunashEpa Story of Mahidasa How big are these Vedas? Chapter 2. Were propagators of Vedas primitive people? A brief re-look at the Aryan invasion theory Does lack of evidence imply nonexistence? Secrecy led to caste and gender discrimination? Ingenious techniques to remember massive Vedic texts Were Vedic Indians mathematical genius? The amazing constructs of Vedic Indians! Chapter 3. Were Vedic Indians in touch with aliens? Overview of communion of Vedic people with Devas Aliens of the Vedic kind! Did the aliens really visit Vedic Indians? Were the Vedic Indians vegetarians? A tour of a typical Vedic ritual Is it right to kill an animal just for our benefit? Epilogue Moving from ritualism to spirituality

Vedas are the most ancient scriptures known to us today. They are not just religious texts but are storehouses of vast knowledge, both worldly as well as spiritual. However, these voluminous texts are shrouded in mystery that seem to be unresolvable. This book tries to unravel some of these mysteries and throws lot of light on often misunderstood aspects of these scriptures. This is the second part of the series “Unsolved mysteries”. Table of Contents Chapter 1. One God or many Gods? The word God is a misnomer! Do you know God? Chapter 2. Upanishadic version of ultimate reality Samkhya’s interpretation of Upanishadic genesis story Buddha’s views on Upanishadic narratives Gaudapada’s interpretation of Upanishadic reality Shankara’s views on Upanishadic reality Chapter 3. Do Upanishads view the world as illusion? Strange story of ‘one’ becoming ‘many’ Saying it all in just twelve sentences! Is this life like a movie show?! Don’t entangle yourself in a web of contradictions Chapter 4. Advaita sans Maya The drama of life! Isn’t it cruel to say that this life is just a drama? Does Advaita sans Maya clarify the paradoxes? Chapter 5. What is the message of the Upanishads? Don’t be on a wild goose chase! No amount of wealth can make you happy forever! Just bottle up the unruly genie! urrender to the boss! Epilogue

"The Secret of The Veda" by Sri Aurobindo. This book is collection of Sri Aurobindo’s various writings on the Veda and his translations of some of the hymns, originally published in the monthly review 'Arya' between August 1914 and 1920. This book contains few scripts in Sanskrit language. If you are unable to read Sanskrit script don't worry all scripts are translated in English and with proper Sanskrit pronunciation in Roman character.

Because my questions made Amir uncomfortable, he pronounced talaq just like that on the wife who had abandoned everything for him because his religion gives him that privilege. Where do I now stand, sir? Do you have any solutions for me?' Lakshmi, a rebellious, free-spirited and intelligent film-maker, breaks ties with her staunchly Gandhi an father to marry Amir, the man she loves. She even agrees reluctantly to Amir's request that she convert to Islam, as a formality and change her name to Razia. However, she is shocked to discover that her husband is not the open-minded, progressive individual he claimed to be. For after marriage, Amir takes his family's side in trying to force her to follow the more rigorous tenets of their faith. This sets her off on a personal journey into India's history to uncover the many layers of religion, caste and creed. Her quest leads her to the many parallels in the narratives between the past and the present and she gradually finds that though much has changed in Indian society over the centuries, much remains the same. The second historical novel by celebrated Kannada author S.L. Bhyrappa, translated for the first time into English by Sandeep Balakrishna, Aavarana: The Veil raises pertinent and searching questions about religion, liberalism and identity and highlights the importance of unshackling oneself from the bonds of false knowledge.

In this revelatory volume, Roberto Calasso, whom the Paris Review has called 'a literary institution', explores the ancient texts known as the Vedas. Little is known about the Vedic people who lived more than three thousand years ago in northern India: they left behind almost no objects, images, ruins. They created no empires. Even the hallucinogenic plant, the soma, which appears at the centre of some of their rituals, has not been identified with any certainty. Only a 'Parthenon of words' remains: verses and formulations suggesting a daring understanding of life. 'If the Vedic people had been asked why they did not build cities,' writes Calasso, 'they could have replied: we did not seek power, but rapture.' This is the ardor of the Vedic world, a burning intensity that is always present, both in the mind and in the cosmos. With his signature erudition and profound sense of the past, Calasso explores the enigmatic web of ritual and myth that define the Vedas. Often at odds with modern thought, he shows how these texts illuminate the nature of consciousness more than neuroscientists have been able to offer us up to now. Following the 'hundred paths' of the Satapatha Brahmana, an impressive exegesis of Vedic ritual, Ardor indicates that it may be possible to reach what is closest by passing through that which is most remote, as 'the whole of Vedic India was an attempt to think further'.

Bhagawan has announced Himself as the Divine Teacher of Truth, Beauty, and Goodness. By precept and example, through His writings and discourses, letters and conversations, He has been instilling the supreme wisdom and instructing all mankind to translate it into righteous living, inner peace, and universal love. When the Ramakatha Rasavahini, the uniquely authentic, nectarine stream of the Rama’s story, was serialised in full in the Sanathana Sarathi, Bhagawan blessed readers with a new series, which He named Bharatiya Paramartha Vahini (The Stream of Indian Spiritual Values). While these precious essays, on the basic truths that foster and feed Indian culture since ages before history began, were being published, Bhagawan decided to continue the flow of illumination and instruction under a more comprehensive and meaningful name, Sathya Sai Vahini - the Ganga from the Lotus Feet of the Lord - “The Flow of Divine Sai Grace”. This book, therefore, contains the two Vahinis that have merged in one master stream. Inaugurating these series, Bhagawan wrote for publication in the Sanathana Sarathi, “Moved by the urge to cool the heat of conflict and to quench the agonising thirst for ‘knowledge about yourself’ that you are afflicted with, see, here it comes, the Sathya Sai Vahini, wave behind wave, with the Sanathana Sarathi as the medium between you and Me.” With infinite compassion, this Sathya Sai incarnation of the Omniwill is giving millions of persons in all lands freedom from disease, distress, and despair, narcotics, narcissism, and nihilism. He is encouraging those, who suffer gloom through wilful blindness, to light the Lamp of Love in order to see the world and the Lamp of Wisdom to see themselves. “This is a tantalising, true-false world. Its apparent diversity is an illusion. It is One, but is cognised by the maimed, multiple vision of humans as Many,” says Bhagawan. This book is the twin Lamp He has devised for us.

The ?Vedas? are considered ?divine? in origin and are assumed to be revelations from God. In traditional Hinduism, the Vedas were to be learnt only by the ?upper? caste Hindus. The ?lower castes? (Sudras) and so-called ?untouchables? (who were outside the Hindu social order) were forbidden from even hearing to its recitation. In recent years, there have been claims that the Vedas contain the cure to AIDS and the production of electricity.Here the authors probe into Vedic Mathematics (that gained renown during the revivalist Hindutva rule in India and was introduced into school syllabus in several states); and explore if it is really ?Vedic? in origin or ?Mathematics? in content. To gain a better understanding of its imposition, we interviewed students, teachers, parents, educationists and activists. We analyze this problem using models like Fuzzy Cognitive Maps (FCM), Fuzzy Relational Maps (FRM) and newly constructed Fuzzy Dynamical System (and their Neutrosophic Analogues). The issue of imposition of Vedic Mathematics into the school curriculum involves religious politics, caste supremacy, apart from elementary arithmetic ? so we use fuzzy and neutrosophic techniques to gain acute insight into how students have been affected because of this politically motivated syllabus revision.