We are blessed that we had an Aurobindo

Vedas and our interpretations

The Vedas have for sure generated so much debate and literature especially since the European attempts at deciphering its true meaning. I was reading the first chapter of Aurobindo's "The Secret of the Veda". In just the first few paragraphs Sri Aurobindo convinces us that what many of the translations have achieved is but a superficial understanding of words without looking at the inner meaning concealed in them.

This is what i feel... Just as a simple congregation of words can generate myriad interpretations depending on who is reading it, so is it with the Vedas. If i say, "I see a thread running". To a philosophist it can sound like a thread of thought running in the society. To a information technology intellectual it is simply another operating system thread executing in parallel. To a garment stitcher, its a stitch thats probably running the wrong way. If such a simple line in contemporary English can cast so many interpretations, imagine just how obscure the original intent of the Vedas can be to us, especially when they are enshrouded in an yet to be completely understood complicated language of those times.

It has been thousands of years after the Vedas have come to be with us and trying to interpret their original meaning with a contemporary materialistic and non spiritual intellect is akin to an illiterate but competent farmer trying to understand the essence of Einstein's theory of relativity. We are blessed that we had an Aurobindo who could translate the Vedas adopting an entirely different approach. I hope the power of learning and knowledge graces me with enough skills to understand what iam going to read further in Aurobindo's rendering of the inner meaning of the Vedas. posted by Sabarish Sasidharan at 1:00 PM Saturday, June 03, 2006