Pre-Religion Indian Wisdom Part I (September 26, 2022)

This is Part I of a five part series introducing Vedas and select Upanishads. Efforts will be made to keep the discussion non-controversial and secular. Effort will be to keep the introduction brief, leaving it to the readers to pursue further, if they so desire. The expanse knowledge stored in the 4 Vedas and Upanishads was explained in a talk (YouTube link ) shared on September 24, 2022. My understanding is that the four Vedas and all Upanishads available today are part of Pre-Religion Indian Wisdom. Reference to any religion in the discussion may not have any link to the original texts. Such references are caused by the fact that the ancient way of life in this geographical area which later came to be known as Hinduism accepted many of the rituals and practices prescribed in the Vedas and Upanishads. Here we go by the dictum : पुराणमित्येव न साधु सर्वं न चाऽपि काव्यं नवमित्यवद्यम्। सन्तः परीक्ष्यान्यतरत् भजन्ते मूढ्ः परप्रत्ययनेयबुद्धिः ॥ -मालविकाग्निमित्रम् (महाकवि कालिदास) English Meaning of Sanskrit Phrase: All poems are not good only because they are old. All poems are not bad because they are new. Good and wise people examine both and decide whether a poem is good or bad. Only a fool will be blindly led by what others say. M G Warrier M 134 Pre-Religion Indian Wisdom Part I RIG VEDA A Introduction https://indiafacts.org/the-vedas-and-the-principal-upanishads-i/ The Rig Veda summarises the chief purpose of Vedic knowledge thus: ‘Assemble together, speak with one voice, let your minds be all of one accord…. Let all priests deliberate in a common way. Common be their assembly, common be their mind, so be their thoughts united…. United be the thoughts of all, that all may live happily, that ye may all happily reside” (Sharvanand, 2006: 198) ‘In the world, there is no study so beautiful and so elevating as the Upanishads. It has been the solace of my life, and will be the solace of my death,” from the great nineteenth-century German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, paying homage to the sublime ideas that have been animating the Hindu tradition for almost three millennia’ (Idaho, n.d.) B Rig Veda 1) Basics https://www.britannica.com/topic/Rigveda Rigveda, (Sanskrit: “The Knowledge of Verses”) also spelled Ṛgveda, the oldest of the sacred books of Hinduism, composed in an ancient form of Sanskrit about 1500 BCE, in what is now the Punjab region of India and Pakistan. It consists of a collection of 1,028 poems grouped into 10 “circles” (mandalas). It is generally agreed that the first and last books were created later than the middle books. The Rigveda was preserved orally before it was written down about 300 BCE. 2) Know More https://www.speakingtree.in/blog/origin-and-history-of-rigveda || Origin and History of Rig Veda- - - -By Veerendra Ekbote - The word Rigveda originates from the