Part 1 - Vedic Self-Help

Sanatan literally means eternal.
Dharma means something worth being accepted.
And Ved means knowledge.

So in essence, Vedic Dharma or Sanatan Dharma refers to those principles or source of knowledge that are eternal, unchangeable and worth being accepted. The source of this knowledge is the 4 Vedas - Rik, Yajuh, Sama and Atharva - which are considered to be existing since dawn of humanity.

This knowledge permeates all branches of knowledge that we are aware of, and are considered the highest levels of refinement that human intellect can aspire to reach.

Before we dwell further into this journey, let me clarify certain things:

a. Vedas are not religious books like Bible, Quran or Avesta. They do not contain description of any rituals or any belief-system that can lead us to either Heaven or Hell. On contrary, they contain pearls of intuitive wisdom that we all can relate to.

b. Vedas do not demand belief in anything as a prerequisite. Instead they simply demand an open mind and a questioning attitude.

c. Vedas do not relate to any particular society, religion, nation or culture. Vedas were revealed during a period when entire humanity was one race, one society, one culture and one nation. And hence the Vedic message would be free from any such restrictive biases.

As you shall discover, this Vedic self-help course does not even require faith in Vedas to start with. Significance of Vedas comes as a conclusion of this journey of analysis, and not as a starting assumption. This is like studying physics, where formulae are derived from basic observations and we use textbook to put the things in proper framework.

Being so vast and deep in scope, to a beginner, understanding of Vedas poses several challenges. One hears of quite conflicting and often confusing concepts regarding Vedas. This is especially true in today's scenario when the traditional system of understanding Vedas has almost completely broken down due to a long era of darkness and foreign rule in India, the place where this knowledge was preserved since ages.

The purpose of this series of lectures is to bring forth the fundamental concepts of Vedas in a lucid manner without getting into too much of technical details and help develop the basic framework for further explorations. And in process help develop the right perspectives on Vedas. As you will understand in process, this will help develop new perspectives for your own life that would bring the changes you always desired.

Intended Audience
This series would be useful for the layman, not quite adept in Vedic subjects to understand the most fundamental concepts of Vedas. It assumes no prior background except an inclination towards a scientific and objective approach towards life and living, and an ambition to maximize purposefulness and happiness in life.

However it would also be useful for more advanced students of Vedas to put their knowledge in a framework, fill specific gaps and consolidate on their existing learning. The intended audience is the youth of today, who finds an urge to associate with our great heritage, has a passion to do something purposeful with her or his life

Intended Results
This course is not supposed to be merely academic discussions. Plethora of material is available and hundreds of researchers are doing their doctorates and post-doctorates in this field.

The expected results from study of this series however would be a paradigm shift in his or her thought patterns, and an absolute guarantee that regardless of the situations, pressures and compulsions of life, one is still able to enjoy and live life to fullest.

This course promises to be a vaccination against tension, depression, frustration, exhaustion and purposelessness. If one commits 100% to study of this series, I can promise that this would be the only self-help course that he or she would ever need. The rest of the life would then be an exhilarating journey to maximize this state of bliss by exploring this first knowledge of Vedas even further - in thoughts, words and actions - through study, analysis and execution. All you need to do is to keep an open mind, and enjoy the journey towards success!

In this first part, we shall understand the very basic concepts. We shall not go into actual mantras and references here, to ensure that the things are simple and easy for everyone. However for the more academic minded, we shall provide a list of references later that they can consult and discover further details.

Typically discussions on such topics focus more on microscopic scrutiny of each letter of what is written. That is a good approach for the academic researchers and to extract points to debate and counter-argue.

But to make it a life-changing experience, its the spirit that matters more. We expect you to go by the spirit of the discussion and understand the essence rather than scrutiny of each letter.