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To: keri
What are they (the Vedas) about?

Although this wasn't addressed to me, I'll try to say a little about it. The Vedas are the ancient sacred scriptures of the Hindu religion, dating from about 1500 BC.

The earliest ones contain creation myths and prescriptions for rituals and religious law. The last ones, called the Upanishads, are the most interesting and philosophical. It is here where the concept of Brahman or the ultimate reality is developed. Brahman, or God, is identified with truth, consciousness and bliss, and is the unchanging reality behind the veil of illusion generated by sense experience.

Through various kinds of yoga (means "union" in sanscrit) one can come to realize that Brahman is one's true self. Which is why people in India say hello and goodbye to you by folding their hands as if in prayer and saying, "Namaskar" or Namaste," which means "I salute the divinity within you."

That's what the flight attendants say on Indian Airlines instead of "Bubbye"!

45 posted on 12/30/2001 11:14:35 PM PST by codeword
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To: codeword
Thank you. I am familiar with the Upanishads, and the Vedanta. ("Hindu fundamentalism" at it's finest)
50 posted on 12/30/2001 11:39:29 PM PST by keri
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