What is Vedic?
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2:
“Why Have I Never Heard of It?”
Chapter 3:
Cyclical Time
Chapter 4:
The Vedas
Chapter 5:
Srimad-Bhagavatam
Chapter 6:
Gods and Goddesses
Chapter 7:
Other Epics
Further Reading
What is ‘Vedic’?
by Jean Michel HoffmanIntroduction
So what does ‘Vedic’ mean and why have so many peole never heard of it? These articles will give background of the history and beliefs of the Vedic culture, and how its worldview can have a profoundly positive effect for people in the West.
It should be mentioned here that I am not a part of any religious organization, and the ideas herein are for educational purposes only. Further research about these topics are certainly encourged per one’s own curiosity and links will be provided throughout.
The World’s Most Ancient Culture
The term ‘Vedic’ refers to a highly advanced ancient culture from modern-day India that flourished for thousands of generations and ended at the dawn of the our current age in roughly 3000 BC. The language of this culture is Sanskrit, and ‘Vedic’ comes from the root word veda वेद which means ‘knowledge’. The surviving books from this culture are called the Vedas and are universally acknowledged to be the oldest surviving literature in the world.
The Vedas not only predate all other written material but are more detailed and expansive in their descriptions of life on earth in prior ages.
The tales depicted are pastoral yet supernatural, a time when humans roamed the earth adjacent to divine beings and demons alike. Despite the seemingly fantastic passages, the lineage of Vedic sages maintain that these are not allegories or myths but in fact a literal history of events from those times.
