Summary
- The entire ocean of sacred texts; the Veda, Tantra, Purāṇa and epics (Rāmāyana and Mahābhārata) etc. are meant to reveal only what cannot be known through cognition and reason. There is no need for scriptural validation in empirical matters which can be known through science.
- Scripture cannot contradict knowledge gained from the two other sources; but its authority is infallible in matters pertaining to Dharma and Brahman.
- Scripture neither produces anything new nor alters what is. There are some modern scholars who attempt to demonstrate that subatomic physics and neuro-physiology are hidden in certain Vedic texts. But the Veda is neither validated by these findings if proved to be correct nor invalidated it they are proved to be wrong. The purport of the Veda is not science, physiology,
biology, history etc.
The essence of the Veda has to be assiduously contemplated upon for years in a sustained way with faith, by one who has
refined the mind through ethical living; one may then eventually ‘realise’ it.
Itihāsa purāṇābhyām vedam sam-upabṛmhayet |
Bibhetyalpa śrutād vedo mām ayam prahariṣyati ||
One should interpret the Veda through means of the Itihāsas3 and Purāṇas. The Veda dreads a person of little learning fearing “he will misunderstand me!”
(Vasiṣṭha Dharma sūtra 27:6)
- The entire ocean of sacred texts; the Veda, Tantra, Purāṇa and epics (Rāmāyana and Mahābhārata) etc. are meant to reveal only what cannot be known through cognition and reason. There is no need for scriptural validation in empirical matters which can be known through science.
- Scripture cannot contradict knowledge gained from the two other sources; but its authority is infallible in matters pertaining to Dharma and Brahman.
- Scripture neither produces anything new nor alters what is. There are some modern scholars who attempt to demonstrate that subatomic physics and neuro-physiology are hidden in certain Vedic texts. But the Veda is neither validated by these findings if proved to be correct nor invalidated it they are proved to be wrong. The purport of the Veda is not science, physiology,
biology, history etc.
The essence of the Veda has to be assiduously contemplated upon for years in a sustained way with faith, by one who has
refined the mind through ethical living; one may then eventually ‘realise’ it.
Itihāsa purāṇābhyām vedam sam-upabṛmhayet |
Bibhetyalpa śrutād vedo mām ayam prahariṣyati ||
One should interpret the Veda through means of the Itihāsas3 and Purāṇas. The Veda dreads a person of little learning fearing “he will misunderstand me!”
(Vasiṣṭha Dharma sūtra 27:6)