Notes of IKS

Holistic Education Course

Veda

Vedas are considered the oldest Hindu texts. Scholars believe that they were written
down some 2,500 years ago, though the tradition often dates them to the beginning
of Kali-yuga (circa 3000 BCE). Some Hindus say that there was originally only one
Veda, the Yajur, which was later divided into four. Scholars, however, usually consider
the Rig-Veda the oldest of all Hindu writings. The following is an overview of the four
Vedas.

The Rig-Veda
The most important and, according to scholars, oldest of the Vedas. It is divided into
ten books (called mandalas) and has 1028 hymns in praise of various deities. These
include Indra, Agni, Vishnu, Rudra, Varuna, and other early or “Vedic gods.” It also
contains the famous Gayatri mantra and the prayer called the Purusha Shukta (the
story of Primal Man).
The Yajur-Veda
A priestly handbook for use in the performance of yajnas (sacrifices) It is divided into
two sections, the earlier “black” and the more recent “white.”

Sama-Veda
This consists of chants and melodies to be sung during worship and the performance
of yajna.

Atharva-Veda
Contains hymns, mantras and incantations, largely outside the scope of yajna.
Within each of the four books there are four types of composition, or divisions, as
shown below. In the narrowest of senses, only the Samhitas comprise the true Vedas.
The first two divisions relate to the performance of sacrificial rituals (the karma-
kanda section), whereas the second pair consists of philosophy (and belong to
the jnana-kanda section).

1. The Samhitas – literally “collections,” in this case of hymns and mantras.

They form the Veda proper.
2. The Brahmanas – prose manuals of ritual and prayer for the guiding
priests. They tend to explain the Samhitas. They also contain early
versions of some stories.
3. The Aranyakas – literally “forest books” for hermits and saints. They are
philosophical treatises.
 4. The Upanishads – books of philosophy, also called “Vedanta,” the end or
conclusion of the Vedas.

There are also two important bodies of supplementary literature, related closely to
the Vedas themselves. They are:

 The Vedangas, which expound the sciences required to understand and

apply the Vedas.
 The Upavedas (usually considered smriti) which deal with the four
traditional arts and sciences.
1. Kalpa (ritual detail)
2. Siksha (pronunciation)
3. Vyakarana (grammar)
4. Nirukti (etymology)
5. Chandas (metre)
6. Jyotisha (astronomy/astrology)
The Four Upavedas (following the Vedas) explain arts
and sciences
1. Ayur-veda (medicine)
2. Gandharva-veda (music and dance)
3. Dhanur-veda (warfare)
4. Shilpa-veda (architecture)
Scriptural Passage
“We meditate on that most adorable, most desirable and most enchanting effulgence
of the Supreme Lord, who is the source of creation, inspiration and eternal
happiness. May His light inspire and illumine our intellect.”

Gayatri Mantra (from the Rig Veda)

For more details on Veda link:

https://vedicfeed.com/the-four-vedas/

Upanishads
Upanishad means “sitting near,” alluding to the tutorials given by a guru to his
disciples (who would traditionally sit “at his feet’). The Upanishads are philosophical
texts delineating some of the key concepts within Hinduism, including notions of the
soul, reincarnation, karma, Brahman and liberation. The Upanishads are sometimes
considered the beginning of direct spiritual instruction within the Vedas. The
traditional number of Upanishads is 108, though there are many more, especially of
recent origin. Of these, 13 are usually considered most important.
The Upanishads are expositions of doctrine, typically found in the concluding portions of the brAhmaNas
and AraNyakas of the four vedas. A number of upanishads are extant today, with commentaries on them
by representatives of various schools of vedAnta. The upanishads are not to be seen as uniform books -
each text is connected to the veda in which it occurs, and the upanishadic teaching is often presented in
the context of a particular vedic hymn or ritual. In the vedAnta traditions, the upanishads are referred to
as the Sruti prasthAna, i.e. revealed scripture, from which knowledge of brahman is obtained. Principal
upanishads: The upanishads that have been commented upon by Sankara and other teachers have have
acquired extra significance as the principal or more or less "canonical" upanishads. These are:
aitareya (Rg veda)
bRhadAraNyaka (Sukla yajurveda)
ISa (Sukla yajurveda)
taittirIya (kRshNa yajurveda)
kaTha (kRshNa yajurveda)
chAndogya (sAma veda)
kena (sAma veda)
muNDaka (atharva veda)
mANDUkya (atharva veda)
praSna (atharva veda)

These ten are the most important and principal texts. Modern scholars believe that these also represent the
oldest of the upanishadic texts. Others add the kaushItakI and SvetASvatara upanishads to the list of
principal upanishads, and some add the maitrAyaNI too.
The Bhagavad-gita
The Bhagavad-gita, the “Song of God,” is the best-known Hindu scripture in the world.
Forming two chapters of the Mahabharata, it is a spiritual treatise spoken by Krishna to
Arjuna as they sat on a chariot between two armies poised for battle.
Blind King Dhritarashtra, sitting in his palace, was worried as to how the proposed
battle-site, Kurukshetra – even then a place of pilgrimage – might favour the
righteous Pandavas standing opposite his own sons. Doubtful and perturbed, he
confided in Sanjaya, his secretary. Sanjaya, by mystic vision, saw events unfolding in
Kurukshetra and thus narrated to the blind king the entire Bhagavad-gita.

The king was pleased to hear of Arjuna’s perplexity upon seeing friends and relatives
on both sides. Arjuna dropped his bow, refused to fight and implored Krishna to
become his teacher. Lord Krishna then explained how Arjuna’s affection for his
kinsmen was based on the bodily concept of life. Under this illusion, Arjuna
considered the body to be the self and those connected with his body to be his
kinsmen.

In the first six chapters, Krishna explains how the real self (atrnan) is different from
the body and can be elevated to self-realisation through different types of yoga,
culminating in bhakti (devotion). The middle six chapters discuss the Supreme Lord,
his service and his devotees. In the third six chapters, Krishna explains about the
soul’s entanglement within the three gunas, and how it can be liberated.
Upon hearing these instructions, Arjuna again took up his bow, determined to fight. In
the final verse of the Gita, Sanjaya plunges Dhritarashtra back into despair, informing
him that his sons, fighting opposite Krishna and Arjuna, had no chance of victory. The
whole Gita is completed in 700 verses.There are now thousands of editions,
translated into all major languages and usually published with extensive commentary
on the text.

Science & tech flourished in ancient India

Indian astronomy has a long history and was a Vedanga, an auxiliary discipline associated with
the study of the Vedas, dating back to 1,500 BCE or earlier. Varahamihira, Aryabhata, Bhaskara,
Brahmagupta and others were astronomers who even mention their scientific instruments.
Maharaja Jai Singh II of Jaipur constructed five Jantar Mantars in New Delhi, Jaipur, Ujjain,
Mathura and Varanasi. They give us a good idea of the early scientific tools.
India produced great scientists and mathematicians. Baudhayana in 800 BCE calculated the
value of pi and discovered what is now known as the Pythagoras' theorem. Pythagoras lived in
sixth century BCE Greece; and the third century CE sophist Philostratus says that Pythagoras
studied under Hindu sages or gymnosophists in India. Brahmagupta lived in seventh century
Ujjain and wrote several books on mathematics and astronomy. India was the source of the
number system, now called the Arabic numerals because the Arabs took it everywhere. This
number system is a feat of genius. It enables all numbers to be expressed with just ten symbols—
the numbers 1 through 9 and the symbol for zero.
Without this key, we would have a separate word for each number and be hopelessly confused. It
is this brilliant Indian numeral system that makes mathematics, modern accounting, business
deals and computer technology possible; from Wall Street to the space programme, modern
civilisation depends on this number system. Brahmagupta was the first to discuss zero as a
number and established the basic mathematical rules for it. He did a lot of work in geometry,
trigonometry and discovered new theorems. He also explained how to find cubes, cube roots,
squares and square roots.

Fifty years before the Italian mathematician Fibonacci wrote about the number sequence, now
known as the Fibonacci numbers, a sage named Hemchandra wrote about this sequence, but even
he was not the first Indian to do so. An earlier Indian mathematician named Gopala had also
studied these numbers. And several earlier Indian mathematicians also knew about them.
In 500 CE, Aryabhata, and later Brahmagupta understood that the earth is round. They talked
about gravity, saying that it is the nature of the earth to attract objects, causing them to fall
towards the ground.
Bhaskaracharya wrote about arithmetic, geometry, algebra and calculus. Isaac Newton and
Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz are given credit for being the first to introduce calculus, but
Bhaskaracharya had written about it 500 years earlier.
Bhaskaracharya had calculated the time taken for the earth to travel around the sun: 365.2588
days. The modern measurement is 365.25636, a difference of just 3.5 minutes. He did not work
with instruments or computers. He knew that the earth travels around the sun at a time when the
West did not; when people thought the sun revolved around the earth.
But it was not in mathematics alone that Indians flourished. Sushruta was a great
surgeon who used 125 different surgical instruments and herbal sprays before an
operation to prevent sepsis. His greatest contribution was in the fields of plastic
surgery and cataract removal. When the British arrived, they learned these sciences
from Indian doctors, cut off their fingers so that the Indians could never practise
again, and introduced plastic and cataract surgery in British medical colleges as their
invention. Charaka wrote about herbal treatments that Indians are just rediscovering.
In 300 BCE, Patanjali codified the Yoga sutras. In 200 BCE, Kanada wrote about gravity
and that the universe is made up of atoms. Nagarjuna was a great metallurgist and
chemist. The list is endless.
Indian science and technology began at Mehrgarh (now in Pakistan) and continued throughout
the country’s history. People developed different systems of agriculture, irrigation, canals and
water storage systems, including artificial lakes, by 3,000 BCE. Cotton was cultivated by 5,000–
4,000 BCE. They farmed with animal-drawn ploughs in the Indus Civilisation in 2,500 BCE. The
people of the Indus-Sarasvati region used weights and measures. Large numbers are used in the
Vedas.
The earliest-known dock in the world, which could berth and service ships, was situated at
Lothal in Gujarat. Indian metallurgy was very advanced. Steel was made in India from 500 BCE.
King Porus gifted Alexander a steel sword in 326 BCE. The iron pillar located in Delhi is seven
metres high and has never rusted. Over 5,000 years ago, there were dentists in the Indus-
Sarasvati region. A modern scientist who was looking at the teeth of people who had died there
long ago found that ancient dentists had drilled teeth as far back as 9,000 years ago.
Young people should be taught about the scientific and mathematical achievements of India.
But it should be scientific, logical and truthful. Unfortunately, even centres of higher learning are
claiming the impossible. We do not need to resort to falsehoods to establish our scientific
prowess. The truth is sufficiently amazing. What we can be sure of is that India played a central
role in all that is known today of mathematics and many sciences, and our civilisation discovered
these concepts several millennia before they were known in Europe.
Reference
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.newindianexpress.com/opinions/2022/jan/14/
how-science-tech-flourished-in-ancient-india-2406610.amp
Science and Technology during Mauryan Period
The Arthashastra is an Indian treatise on politics, economics, military strategy, the function of
the state, and social organization attributed to the philosopher and Prime Minister Kautilya (also
known as Chanakya, Vishnugupta, l. c. 350-275 BCE) who was instrumental in establishing the
reign of the great king Chandragupta Maurya (r. c. 321-c.297 BCE), founder of the Mauryan
Empire (322-185 BCE).
The Arthashastra is thought to have been written by Kautilya as a kind of handbook
for Chandragupta instructing him in how to reign over a kingdom and encouraging direct action
in addressing political concerns without regard for ethical considerations. The name of the work
comes from the Sanskrit words Artha (“aim” or “goal”) and Shastra (“treatise” or “book”) and
the goal of the work is a comprehensive understanding of statecraft which will enable a monarch
to rule effectively. The title has therefore been translated as The Science of Politics, The Science
of Political Economy, and The Science of Material Gain; this last because Artha is understood
in Hinduism as one of the fundamental aims of human beings in pursuing wealth and social
status.

Kautilya's Arthashastra: Quick overview

The Arthashastra refers to a practice of political diplomacy that arose in India,

and is epitomized by the written material on position, policy and military
strategy written by Kautilya. Kautilya was an academician at Taxila University
and later the Prime Minister of the Mauryan Empire. He is referred to as
the Indian Machiavelli as a result of his undisputed and shrewd techniques
and policies, which mirror a "realist" approach to politics, diplomacy and
warfare. His Arthashastra text recommended that no means were on the far
side scope of a ruler to expand his territory or obtain power as well as the
unscrupulous ethics of permitting torture, trickery, deceit, and spying as
legitimate suggests, to realize territory, wealth and power

Kautilya's Arthashastra: Quick overview

Arthashastra deals thoroughly with the qualities and disciplines needed for a
king to rule his subjects more expeditiously.
According to Kautilya, a kKing is one who:
 Has self-control, having conquered the unfriendly temptations of the
senses
 Cultivates the intellect by consulting with elders
 Keeps his eyes open and stays updated through spies
 Is always active in promoting the protection and welfare of the folks
 Ensures the speculation of the themes of their Dharma by authority and
example
 Improves his own discipline by enhancing his learning in all branches of
knowledge; and
 Endears himself to his subjects by enriching them
Quarrels among individuals may be resolved by winning over the leaders or
by removing the reason for the quarrel - individuals fighting among people
themselves facilitate the king by competing with each other. Conflicts (for
power) within the royalty, on the other hand, bring about harassment and
destruction to the people and double the effort that is needed to finish such
conflicts.
The Code of Conduct for a Prince according to Kautilya
With enriching his self-discipline, he should keep company with learned
elders, for in them alone discipline has its firm roots. For a trained intellect
pursues yoga because from yoga comes self-control. Only a king, who is
smart, disciplined, dedicated to a just governing of the subjects & aware of the
welfare of all beings, can get pleasure from the world unopposed.
Panini
About Panini, the ‘father of linguistics’:
 Panini probably lived in the 4th century BC, the age of the conquests of Alexander and the
founding of the Mauryan Empire.
 He has also been dated to the 6th century BC, the age of The Buddha and Mahavira.
 He likely lived in Salatura (Gandhara), which today would lie in north-west Pakistan.
 Panini was probably associated with the great university at Taksasila, which also produced
Kautilya and Charaka, the ancient Indian masters of statecraft and medicine respectively.
About Ashtadhyayi
 ‘Ashtadhyayi’, or ‘Eight Chapters’ – Panini’s great grammar
 It is a linguistics text that set the standard for how Sanskrit was meant to be written and spoken.
 The Ashtadhyayi laid down more than 4,000 grammatical rules, couched in a sort of shorthand,
which employs single letters or syllables for the names of the cases, moods, persons, tenses, etc.
in which linguistic phenomena are classified.
Significance of Asthadhyayi:
 By the time it was composed, Sanskrit had virtually reached its classical form — and
developed little thereafter, except in its vocabulary.
 Panini’s grammar, which built on the work of many earlier grammarians, effectively stabilized
the Sanskrit language.
 Panini’s grammar is one of the greatest intellectual achievements of any ancient civilization,
and the most detailed and scientific grammar composed before the 19th century in any part of the
world.
 The earlier works had recognised the root as the basic element of a word, and had classified some
2,000 monosyllabic roots which, with the addition of prefixes, suffixes and inflexions, were
thought to provide all the words of the language.
 Commentaries on Panini includes Mahabhasya of Patanjali (2nd century BC) and the
Kashika Vritti of Jayaditya and Vamana (7th century AD).

Patanjali
A founder of Ashtanga yoga tradition Sage Patanjali in 500 BC wrote a text
containing 196 Sutras in Sanskrit which is known as Yoga Sutras. One sutra forms
one statement. But the statements are in Sanskrit. Sutras are very compressed as
far as meaning is concerned. So to explain and understand these Sutras, it takes
lot of efforts and knowledge of Sanskrit but also understanding of the philosophy
of yoga.

Yoga Sutras are divided in to four chapters.

 I - Samadhi Pada – 51 Sutras.

 II – Sadhana Pada – 55 Sutras.
 III – Vibhuti Pada – 56 Sutras.
 IV – Kaivalya Pada – 34 Sutras.

What is Yoga Philosophy?

Philosophy can sound so dry and unrelated to the dilemmas and decisions we face
everyday. In reality though philosophy can help us to understand our place in the
world. Yoga philosophy is deeply woven into ancient Indian thought and ‘Yoga’ is in
fact, the name of an ancient Indian school of philosophy. Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra is
made up of 196 aphorisms or pithy phrases about yoga. In fact the word sutra is
related to our word for suture and these are short pithy phrases without verbs. The
sutras in short summarise the theory and practice of yoga.

What are Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras?

The sutras are 1600 – 1700 years old (though this is subject to some debate). They
explore how to deal with the process of suffering. The sutras are both a manual for
practice but also offer a theoretical understanding. The exact purpose of the
compilation of the sutras has been lost, but they date from an oral tradition, so
there is certainly material that may be lost to us and traditionally, the sutras would
have been passed from teacher to student.

The Sutras are attributed to a sage called Patanjali. There are in fact, three
‘Patanjalis’ who compiled significant manuals to emerge from ancient India.
Someone called Patanjali was also a grammarian responsible for compiling a
dictionary of Sanskrit and wrote significant works around Ayurveda.

What’s in the sutras

There are four chapters (padas) in the sutras.
1. Samadhi pada – the first chapter is concerned with meditative bliss: in many
ways this is the ultimate goal of yoga. This chapter also contains one of the
best known definitions of yoga: Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of
the mind.
2. The second chapter of the sutras – the sadhana pada is all about practice.
This is the chapter which offers ashtanga yoga or the eight-limbed path as a
way in which we can lead our lives in a way that reduces our suffering.
Although meditative absorption remains the ultimate goal, Patanjali presents
a number of methods in which we can prepare. These include: study,
discipline and devotion. In this chapter Patanjali suggests that whilst our
mind gets caught up in perceiving material states as real, an ethical approach
to our life can steady our minds.
3. The third chapter – the vibhuti pada is concerned with attaining special
powers. The chapter is concerned with ever more subtle states of meditation
resulting in the attainment of special powers. Some of these seem extreme
and it can be difficult to know quite how to interpret them: are they
metaphors, or did ancient yogis train their minds to gain an ‘elephant’s
strength’ and the ability to see into the nature of the universe and the place
of the stars?
4. Kaivalya pada. This chapter is concerned with what happens when ‘liberation’
or kaivalya is ‘achieved’. This is when the ‘purusha’ frequently translated as
the soul becomes detached or liberated from ‘prakriti’ or material life.